


Connections

by FoxGlade



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-30
Updated: 2016-10-30
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:41:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8410627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxGlade/pseuds/FoxGlade
Summary: The stage: Republic City, torn between the rise of a fanatical anti-bending movement and a brewing turf war. The game: control of the city and its people. The players: a mysterious figurehead with unimaginable power, three street gangs out for blood, two brothers who will do anything for each other, and one Avatar. Oh, and their daemons.[Book One: Air, with daemons]





	1. hittin' on all sixes

**Author's Note:**

> hey folks! this is an old fic of mine that i finally decided to clean up and post, despite it being incomplete, mostly because its been bugging me for almost three years now.
> 
> i say again: THIS FIC IS INCOMPLETE. it starts partway into episode 2 of book one and ends around halfway through episode 4. nevertheless, ive hopefully edited and cleaned it up enough that it reads well on its own. 
> 
> i really hope you enjoy reading it!! if so, let me know; i may post more in the 'verse if anyone's interested.

The pro-bending arena is as amazing inside as it looked from across the bay. Korra steps lightly through the corridors, peaking into rooms, grinning the whole time. It beats sitting around the temple, that’s for sure.

Of course she gets caught, almost immediately. An older man with a stern bird daemon is ready to throw her out by the ear, if not for the casual and only slightly charming intervention of a guy around her age, dressed in bending gear. When the man with the bird daemon grumbles and walks away, he quickly leads her to “the best seats in the house”, as he describes them. When she sees the view, she can’t disagree, and stares out into the arena in open-mouthed amazement.

“Name’s Bolin, by the way,” the man says. “Bolin and Pabu,” the daemon on his shoulder adds. Bolin rolls his eyes. “I was about to say that, why do you always cut me off before I say it?” he demands.

“I’m Korra,” she interrupts through a laugh, and doesn’t wait for the awkward pause when she doesn’t introduce her daemon. “So you’re really a pro-bender?”

“Yeah! We’re the Fire Ferrets!” Bolin says cheerfully. Pabu strikes a pose.

The guy over by the locker with the huge armadillo bear daemon looks over at Korra’s helpless laughter. “Psst, Bolin,” he whispers loudly. Bolin glances at him, then nods at his daemon, and Korra watches as Pabu jumps off his shoulder and runs to perch on the armadillo bear’s back, and then proceeds to have a quiet conversation with the dark-haired guy.

Bolin laughs at her gobsmacked expression and says, “Yeah, pretty neat trick, huh? Oh, unless you’re one of those purity nutjobs who think daemons shouldn’t talk to anyone ever.”

“No, it’s just, I thought-” Korra pauses, then backtracks hastily, “I mean, isn’t that really hard? Having two different conversations at once?”

“What can I say? I have great multitasking skills,” Bolin says, stretching his arms above his head. Then he grins, and puts an arm around her shoulder smoothly, guiding her towards the entourage by the locker. “This is my brother, Mako and Amate.”

“Mako?” she asks immediately, ignoring Amate’s puzzled look when her daemon doesn’t make itself known. “Wow, I heard you play on the radio!”

Mako doesn’t even look at her, even though his daemon is still staring. “Come on, Bolin, we’re up,” he says shortly, walking straight past her, Amate following closely. Pabu jumps off Amate’s back as they pass and scrabbles up Bolin’s jacket.

“Or I could meet him later,” Korra mutters. Bolin and Pabu look at her expectantly for a moment, and she knows they’re waiting for her daemon to make a comment. “What?” she says, challengingly. Instantly Bolin puts his hands up.

“Nothing!” he says. “Just, sorry about him. He gets real focused before a match.”

“Amate’s nice!” Pabu insists. “She would’ve talked to your daemon, if, you know…” He trails off awkwardly. Korra doesn’t reply. After a few more awkward seconds, Bolin shrugs and smiles.

“Maybe next time, right?” he says as he puts his helmet on. “Okay, wish me luck.”

“Not that we’ll need it!” Pabu crows, giving her a tiny wink.

 

* * *

 

One of the most harrowing parts of pro-bending matches is when a player gets knocked into the drink. Not because they may be hurt – the protective gear they wear is specifically designed to protect against most damage – but because of the moment where their daemon must jump from the catwalk beside the bending platform to avoid the tearing pain that comes with stretching your distance limit. It’s easier for some daemons than for others.

When Hasook and Bolin go down, Hasook’s seagull daemon easily swoops after them, and Pabu dives in neatly without a sound, despite the stretch it must be on their range. On the platform, Mako glances back, and Korra can see the flash of concern on his face all the way from the player’s box. But then his features harden, and he turns back just in time to dodge the slice of water being sent at him.

He ducks and weaves with a fierce sort of grace that matches his armadillo bear daemon, and when he knocks all three of the Tigerdilloes over the edge of the platform, Korra can only stare in gleeful admiration as the crowd goes wild.

“Woohoo!” she hears Bolin shout a second before he swings around the corner. “One more win, and we’re in the championship tournament!” he continues. On his shoulder, Pabu licks some remaining water off his fur and squeaks in wordless excitement, then says, “So, what’d you think? We have some serious moves, huh?”

 “What’d I think?” Korra repeats. She wants to grab Bolin, pull and shove him the way she did with the other kids when she was younger, but she doesn’t want to get too close to his daemon. So instead, she slugs him in the arm; maybe a bit too hard, going by his wince, but hey, she’s excited! “That was amazing!”

“Ouch, even I felt that one,” Pabu complains, but he’s drowned out by an angry voice.

“You did more harm than good out there!” the voice says, and then Mako is striding towards them, Hasook beside him. “You almost cost us the match!” Ambling at his heels, Amate gives a low snarl of agreement. Hasook’s daemon squawks indignantly.

“We won, didn’t we?” Hasook replies angrily. “Get off my case, pal!” With that, he flings his helmet onto the table and hurries out the door, his daemon giving them one last red-eyed glare before they’re gone.

“Useless,” Amate grunts. Pabu jumps from Bolin’s shoulder onto her head and whispers something, but Korra is only paying attention to Mako now.

“You guys were incredible out there!” she says with a grin. “Especially you, Mister Hat Trick!”

Again, he doesn’t even look at her. “Oh, you’re still here?” he mutters as he walks to the locker to dump his gear. Instantly, Korra’s grin drops.

“Oh, you’re still a jerk?” she replies to his retreating back. She hears a huff of laughter and glances over to see Amate and Pabu both looking at her.

“Ooh, ouch!” Pabu snickers. Amate crinkles her eyes in amusement.

“Don’t mind him,” she says in a soft, deep voice. “He is just grumpy.”

“Amate!” Mako complains from across the room. Amate chuckles and ambles over to him, taking Pabu with her.

“Anyway,” Korra says, turning back to Bolin. “I’ve been immersed in bending my entire life, but I never learned how to move like that! It’s like there’s a whole new style here!” she continues, excitement building. “Think you could show me a few tricks?”

“Absolutely!” Bolin agrees, grinning widely.

“Right now?” Mako asks, not bothering to turn around. “Come on, Bolin.”

Pabu blows him a raspberry and Korra laughs. “Yeah,” Bolin continues, “I could show you the basics. I’m just not sure how my earthbending would translate to your waterbending.” He puts his hand and his chin, thoughtful, then shrugs. “But we’ll figure it out.”

“Won’t be a problem,” Korra says innocently, crossing her arms and glancing aside. “I’m actually an earthbender.” She smirks internally; call her petty, but she _loves_ the look of confusion on people’s faces just before they figure out who she is.

Sure enough, she hears Pabu across the room say “ _what?”_ just as Bolin screws up his face in that wonderful confusion. “I’m sorry, no, I didn’t mean to assume,” he says. “’Cause you know, I just figured. With your Water Tribe get-up. That you are. A Water Tribe. Gal.”

“Nope. You’re right,” Korra replies, still containing her smirk. “I’m a waterbender. And a firebender.”

Bolin nods. Pabu leaps from Amate’s head and scurries across the floor, climbing up Bolin’s side to perch on his shoulder, all in two seconds flat. “I’m very confused right now,” the daemon says indignantly, and Korra has to laugh just a little.

“You’re the Avatar,” Mako says, hands stilling on the locker shelves, “and I’m an idiot.”

“Both are true,” Korra says with a grin. Bolin’s jaw drops a little.

“No… way…” he and Pabu breathe out simultaneously. “The Avatar!” Pabu hisses to Amate, who is staring at Korra in honest shock. She meets her eyes, and after a moment, Amate bares her teeth in a small smile.

“I guess that explains where your daemon is,” she rumbles. Bolin smacks his palm to his forehead.

“Oh! Duh!” he says. “That totally makes sense! Sorry, Pabu, no shy little daemon friend for you,” he adds. Pabu’s ears droop.

“Technically, I carry my daemon inside me,” Korra says, speaking directly to Pabu. “Or at least, that’s what I’ve always been told. You still wanna teach me some moves, Bolin?”

“Do I wanna teach _the Avatar_ some moves?” Bolin scoffs. “Uh, _yeah!_ You coming, bro?”

“I guess,” Mako says, shutting the locker door with a slam.

They make their way to the gym, Pabu happily talking directly to Korra. She’d never known anyone to get so casual about the whole “no daemon” thing so quickly; apart from Master Katara and Tenzin, of course, but they’d spent so much of their lives with Aang. They’d been completely used to it when Korra came along.

“So, here we are,” Bolin says, breaking her out of her thoughts. He steps into the gym and twirls on the spot, hands out in an all-encompassing gesture. “Our domain. Come in, come in, make yourself at home!”

“Although I guess you’ve already been in here, so,” Pabu chirps. Mako who had stalked past Bolin and headed for the mats, pauses.

“She _what?_ ” he says. “Bolin…”

“Chill, Mako!” Bolin replies, rolling his eyes. While he explains his daring rescue of her, with surprisingly few embellishments, she wanders over to the stack of earthen discs and begins to get a feel for them.

She’s never had the opportunity to bend combat discs before. Her earthbending training had always been focused on the ground beneath her, and what she could find around her. These discs are made of tightly packed earth, covered by some sort of super-hardened clay. She knocks a knuckle against it and winces. She wouldn’t want to take one of those to the gut in a fight.

“Hey! You wanna test them out?” Bolin says, breaking away from his brother and coming towards her. She shifts into an earthbending stance automatically.

“I’m ready,” she says, eyes narrowing in concentration.

“Okay then, let’s see what you’ve got!”

Weight centred. Strength in the core. Feel the earth. She plants her feet and punches out twice, and the discs go flying into the net, exactly at the points she was aiming for. Smug, she turns back to Bolin.

“That was great! Good power!” he says approvingly. “Buuut…”

“In a real match, you’d be a sitting turtleduck,” Pabu finishes. He scrambles from Bolin’s shoulder to the top of his head, where he perches like a fancy but precariously balanced hat. “You’ve got to be lighter on your feet, and not so upright. Like this!” Obligingly, Bolin shifts into his own bending stance, which is indeed more relaxed-looking than Korra’s. “Stay on your toes right up until the moment you need to dig in, and then…”

As Pabu speaks, Bolin twists his feet just slightly and uses his sudden stability to send off two discs in a powerful double tap. When they land, he looks at her and smiles, waving at the net in an obvious gesture of “you see?”

“Okay,” she says firmly, “let me try it again.” Deliberately not moving into the solid stance that feels more natural, she jumps a little from side to side, and then after a few moments, twists her feet like Bolin had. She can feel the power instantly, and punches out again. This time, she swears the discs fly just a little faster, the agility in her new stance translating itself into her manipulation of the earth.

“Wow, nice adjustment!” Bolin says through a grin. “You’re a natural at this!”

“Not bad,” Mako comments from behind them. Korra glares at him.

“What does it take to impress this guy?” she mutters. Amate huffs a laugh.

“’Not bad’ means ‘pretty good’, from him,” she explains, amusement clear in her voice. “Pabu, we’re turning in. You kids have fun. It was nice meeting you, Avatar Korra.”

“You too, _Amate_ ,” Korra emphasizes, and Mako’s shoulders stiffen.

“See you upstairs, bro,” he says shortly, and walks away. Amate ambles behind, brushing against Bolin’s side as she goes. Bolin barely reacts, but Pabu leans up and whispers something in his ear, to which he nods. For the second time that night, Korra watches as Pabu leaps from Bolin’s shoulder and scurries after Amate, catching up quickly and climbing up to perch on the top of her scaly back.

“Wow, he’s going with them? How far is your range?” Korra asks Bolin curiously. Then, “Wait, upstairs? Do you guys live here?”

“Yep, in the attic,” Bolin says. For a moment he looks oddly guarded. “It’s nothing fancy, but it has great views. And it’s close enough that Pabu can stay upstairs asleep while I come train here, so that’s a plus!”

It’s not an answer to her first question, but despite her reputation, she knows when to leave something alone. “Sounds perfect,” she says. Bolin beams at her.

“Doesn’t it!” he agrees. “Now, back to bending. Show me that combo again?”

They practice for at least an hour, Bolin showing her a move, then Korra copying it. The style is a lot more aggressive and flexible than she’s used, having mostly been taught by old Masters of the elements. When she tells Bolin this, he nods.

“The style most pro-benders use is pretty new,” he explains. He grabs a towel and wipes the sweat of his forehead, and Korra takes the opportunity to gulp down one of the glasses of water on the table. “And I know I said before that I didn’t know if my earthbending would translate to your waterbending, but a lot of moves are fairly fluid between elements. Like, that spinning kick manoeuvre I showed you two moves back? Totally a firebending move, but modified to fit all three elements used in pro-bending.”

“I _knew_ that was a firebending move!” Korra says excitedly. “I never knew you could do that, though!”

“Like I said, it’s a fairly new style,” Bolin says nonchalantly, but even without his daemon, it’s easy to read just how cool he thinks it all is. She doesn’t need to wonder if her emotions are just as obvious, without a daemon; her father has always told her that she wears her heart on her sleeve. “Wanna see another firebending one?” Bolin asks. “Mako taught me this one – although actually, he taught me pretty much all my moves…”

Finally after another hour of practice, they’re both too exhausted to continue, and Bolin waves as Korra jumps out of a window in the hallway and swims back to Air Temple Island. Naga meets her on the shore, tail wagging frantically, and Korra hugs her around the neck.

“Hey, girl,” she murmurs. “Did you miss me?” Naga grumbles. “I know. But I met some great people over there, and hopefully you’ll get to meet them too, soon. And I saw the pro-bending match, Naga! It was amazing!”

Naga whines and nudges her with her nose. Korra laughs and shoves her gently. “Alright, I’ll go to bed. Maybe I should call you _Nagger_ , instead.”

But as she lies in bed, one hand resting on Naga’s warm fur, she finds that however exhausted her body is, her mind is still wide awake and replaying the match; specifically, the moment when Mako started attacking rather than defending, driving all three Tigerdilloes back and off the platform. It’s a long time before she falls asleep, and when she does, she dreams of bright lights and cheering crowds.

 

* * *

 

The next day is not pleasant.

She’s woken up only a few hours after she arrived back on the island, and spends her morning sitting in the pagoda, trying not to fall asleep again while Tenzin glares at her. The kids aren’t even there to distract him from her failure to meditate, so when he finally calls an end to it at mid-morning, he’s radiating annoyance. Sure, his face is blank and serene, but on his shoulder, Ume is clacking her beak every other minute and pointedly not looking at her.

So when their long walk ends at the airbending device, Korra is more than a little annoyed herself.

The kids are all dancing though it easily, their laughter ringing out. Meelo somersaults backwards out of it, landing on his butt and falling backwards onto the ground, and a second later Phurba flutters down onto his stomach as a sparrowkeet. At the sound of footsteps, he looks at them from upside-down and grins toothily. “Korra!” he shouts, scrambling upwards, sending Phurba fluttering. A second later, Jinora and Ikki jump gracefully out of the device, their own daemons following close behind.

“Korra, are you gonna try again? I totally think you can do it now!” Ikki says eagerly. Pasang shifts from sparrowkeet to cat in a blur of motion and purrs in agreement.

“Give her some space, woman!” Meelo shouts. Korra rubs her temples.

“Quiet, children,” Tenzin says gently, and the kids subside. Korra feels a rush of gratitude towards him that instantly vanishes when his next words are, “She’s going to give the device another try now.”

Right. It’s just a couple of spinning planks of wood. No problem. They’re still turning from the kids’ playing, but slower now, so Korra runs for them before Tenzin can blow some more air into them and speed them up again. She pushes past the first layer no problem, and –

SMACK. A board to the face. SMACK. Her knee is jarred, and she’s spun around wildly. SMACK. Shoulder bruised, back bruised, arm bruised, everything bruised. Pro-bending is probably less violent than this. SMACK. She’s flung backwards, out of the device and onto the ground.

“Are you alright?” Jinora asks. Mingma flutters down to rest beside Korra, peering at her in concern, but Korra waves her away.

“I’m fine,” she says shortly. “Let me try again.”

She lasts a few seconds longer this time, but the end result is the same; lots of bruises, then thrown back to where she started. She tries again. And again.

On the fifth try, she runs in as fast as she can, and somehow manages to get into the middle, only to be whacked in the side of the face by a board. Automatically she throws a punch, but the board is spinning too fast to hit, so instead she just gets thrown back and forth by the boards around her.

“Patience, Korra!” she hears over the sound of rotating wood, and her temper snaps.

With a cry, she flares out fire all around her, burning through the wood, and throws fire punch after fire punch at the damn spinning boards. It feels good to hurt what’s been hurting her, and it’s only when she’s standing in the wreckage of the device, flames all around her, that she calms down enough to realise that, going by the shocked looks on the airbenders faces, she may have overreacted just a little.

“That was a two thousand year old historical treasure,” Tenzin says, face contorting with anger. “What – what is _wrong_ with you?!”

Maybe it’s the way he phrases it – _You don’t have a daemon? What’s wrong with you?_ – but it instantly puts Korra on the defensive, anger flaring up again like it never left. “There’s nothing wrong with me!” she shouts. “I’m doing everything I can – _you’re_ the one who’s wrong! You’re just a terrible teacher!”

She storms off before Tenzin can say anything more, and ignores the sinking feeling in her stomach that feels an awful lot like the beginning of regret.

 

* * *

 

She skulks around the island with Naga for hours, airbender clothing ditched long ago for her customary “Water Tribe get-up”, as Bolin had put it. She has to smile a little at the thought of the cheerful earthbender, but the smile turns to a scowl at the memory of perky little Pabu, who wasn’t afraid to talk to her face, who winked at her.

“Maybe there is something wrong with me,” she mutters. Naga whines. “Not just the daemon thing, but – why can’t I be better at the spiritual stuff that the Avatar has to do, Naga? Why can’t I airbend?” She stomps a foot and sits heavily on the low pillar of rock that shoots up from the ground. “Maybe Aang doesn’t like me,” she says. “He was great at both of those things. Maybe he thinks I’m not good enough to do them.”

“That’s not true!” a voice bursts out behind her. “I mean-”

Korra sighs. “Come on out, Jinora,” she says, and Jinora steps out from behind the tall bushes, Mingma perched on her shoulder.

“Grandpa Aang doesn’t hate you,” she says, expression solemn. “You just need more practice.”

“But I _have_ been practicing!” Korra protests, putting her head in her hands. “It just isn’t sinking in – it hasn’t clicked like Tenzin said it would!”

“Ikki didn’t start airbending until three years ago,” Jinora says. Korra lifts her head and stares. “Mom thought she was a non-bender, like her. We all did.”

Now that she thinks about it, she can’t actually remember Ikki airbending when visiting Master Katara, so it must be true. But she’s almost as good as Jinora, and much better than Meelo, so Korra never suspected… “Why are you telling me this?”

“It didn’t click for her,” Jinora replies with a shrug. “But she got it eventually. You just need to-”

“Be patient, I know,” Korra groans. “I hate being patient.”

Jinora nods and turns to leave, but hesitates. She opens her mouth to speak, closes it, and then looks at Mingma, who says in a near-silent voice, “You shouldn’t worry about your daemon, either. There’s nothing wrong with him.” And with that, they both hurry back into the forest, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared. Korra stares after them.

 _There’s nothing wrong with him_. What does _that_ mean?

She sits there for a long time, leaning back against Naga’s side, turning over the words in her mind. Is it possible that she could have a daemon after all? A daemon that, somehow, only Jinora can see?

Eventually, she shakes her head and tries to dismiss the thought. She knows she has no daemon, and she doesn’t care. Naga is enough for her, and to Koh with anyone who thinks she isn’t.

The sun is dipping over the horizon by the time she stands, stretching her arms above her head. Dinner will be served soon, but there’s no way she’s going to be in the same room as Tenzin again today. Across Yue Bay, the lights of the pro-bending arena sparkle invitingly. Tonight’s match will be starting soon. She rubs Naga’s neck and whispers, “I’ll be back soon,” before heading for the cliff edge and jumping into the bay, where the water rushes up to meet her.

By the time she reaches the player’s box, she feels as if all her troubled thoughts have been left back on Air Temple Island, She steps into the room with a grin that falls quickly upon seeing the glum looks on Mako and Bolin’s faces.

“I didn’t miss the match, did I?” she asks, closing the door behind her. “You guys look like you’ve lost already.”

“We may as well have,” Pabu says mournfully.

“Hasook’s a no-good no-show,” Mako explains. Beside him, Amate growls angrily.

The door opens again, and a man calls out, “You’ve got two minutes to come out ready to play, or you’re disqualified.”

Mako puts his head down. “Well, there goes our shot at the tournament,” he says, voice clear and bitter. “And the winnings.”

Korra glances over at the other players huddled by the locker, thinks of a solution, then thinks of a better one. “I can be your third player!” she says excitedly. “I’m a top-notch waterbender, if I do say so myself.”

Bolin and Pabu exchange glances. “Isn’t that cheating?” Bolin says. “I mean… you’re the Avatar.”

“It’s not cheating if I only use waterbending,” she replies with a shrug. Mako glares at her.

“No way,” he tells her flatly. “I’d rather forfeit than look like a fool out there.”

“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Korra mutters. The door opens again.

“Time’s up; you in or out?” the man barks. Korra opens her mouth to reply, but is beaten to it.

“We’re in!” Amate rumbles loudly. They all turn and stare at her, none more surprised than Mako himself.

“Amate!” he hisses. “What are you doing? I didn’t agree to this!”

“But I did,” she says smugly, then lumbers to her feet with deceptive grace. “Now come on, we need to hurry!”

“Yes! Thank you, Amate!” Bolin cries, punching a fist in the air. He and Korra rush to the locker, pulling out the waterbender gear, and less than a minute later they’re walking onto the platform and waving to the crowds, Mako and Bolin’s daemons walking alongside on the catwalks. It’s all happened so fast that the situation has an almost unreal feel to it, and Korra pinches herself to make sure she hadn’t fallen asleep with Naga back on the island and dreamt all this.

“Don’t do anything too fancy or aggressive,” Mako mutters in her direction. “In fact, don’t do anything. Just try not to get knocked off the ring.”

“You got it, Captain,” Korra replies. His skepticism isn’t enough to dial back the adrenaline in her veins, driven by the roar of the crowd and the feel of water rushing underneath her feet, earth just waiting to be brought up and thrown.

“Players, are you ready!” the referee calls. Korra doesn’t look at him; she has her eyes fixed on the opposition waterbender. The whistle blows and the bell sounds, and instantly she throws herself into the spinning kick move that Bolin had taught her. Sure enough, it works beautifully for her waterbending, sending out a whip of water that whacks into her opponent, flinging him off the side of the platform.

“Woohoo!” she shouts, throwing her hands up in victory. “Man overboard!” Her victory is quickly interrupted by a whistle, followed by a sharp,

“Fire Ferret waterbender, penalty! Move back one zone!”

“What? Why?” she asks the ref in genuine confusion. Wasn’t the whole point of this thing to knock people off the platform? She’d done it on her first move!

“You’re only allowed to knock people off the _back_ of the ring!” Mako hisses. When she turns to look at him, he’s got his angry eyebrows on. “Not over the sides!”

Behind him, Bolin makes a face that she can’t read, but probably means something along the lines of “ _whoops!_ ”

Korra shuffles back into Zone 2 and readies herself into a stance. The bell sounds and she throws herself into it, determined to keep her bending tighter this time, more contained. She throws another water attack, smoother this time, but leaves herself open to the earthen disc that hits her square in the stomach.

 _I was right_ , she thinks, _I really didn’t want to get one of those in the gut._ But she straightens after only a split second and jumps back in, taking the waterbender’s attack in midair and turning back towards him. She lands, and instantly a buzzer sounds.

“Foul!” the ref shouts. “Over the line! Move back to Zone 3!”

Korra growls wordlessly and stalks to the back of the platform. “Show you over the line,” she mutters.

The Platypus Bears take the round, and she moves back up into Zone 1. Mako doesn’t look at her, and she doesn’t look at anything but her opposition. The waterbender is smirking at her; she’s going to wipe that smirk off with a water rush as soon as she can.

The bell sounds, and she doesn’t even get a chance to draw up any water before the attacks come in, thick and fast, all three elements flying at her in quick succession. She ducks, blocks, and dodges, but they keep coming too fast for her to catch a break. She can’t see what Bolin and Mako are doing, but she knows she’s on her own for this one.

There’s a brief pause in the assault, and she looks up to see the earthbender and the firebender both send out simultaneous attacks. Water will stop the fireball, but if she uses it to block, she’ll get a disc to the ribs. She panics. Her feet twist, and two discs rise up to protect her chest, the fire and earth attacks dissipating on impact, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.

She hears the crowd gasp, and knows she’s made a mistake.

The whistle blows, and the ref calls, “Foul! … I think.” The Platypus Bears are all staring at her in shock. Mako slaps a palm to his forehead. She looks up at the crowds and grins helplessly, raising her hands.

The announcer is saying something barely audible over the speakers high up in the stadium, and the ref climbs down onto the ring to make the judgement call. Korra crosses her fingers and smiles at him as sweetly as she can. He looks back at her, unimpressed, then lifts a hand. “The Avatar will be allowed to continue,” he announces, “as long as she solely bends water.” Across the divider line, the Platypus Bears groan, but Korra punches a fist in the air in triumph.

“Thank you!” she calls after the referee’s retreating back. He settles back into his observation tower, and sounds the bell.

Before they were targeting her because she was the newbie, but now, Korra knows that she’s the target of a grudge match. She doesn’t know what they have against the Avatar, but whatever it is, it’s enough to get her knocked off the platform and into the water within ten seconds.

She kicks her legs and powers to the surface, grabbing onto the stone platform that will take her back up and just breathes for a moment. Then, a shadow falling across her makes her look up, and she stops breathing altogether.

“Oh,” she says, smiling weakly. “Hi, Tenzin. Ume.”

Neither of them say a word; they just glare in identical stony silence. She climbs out of the water and stands before them, and waits for the lecture to start.

“Once again, you have flagrantly disobeyed my order,” he begins. “You were to stay on the island! Let’s go.” With that, he turns and starts to walk away, robe swirling around him. Korra clenches her fists.

“No,” she says through gritted teeth. “I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“I have tried my very best to get through to you by being gentle and patient,” Tenzin replies, anger building beneath his words, “but clearly the only thing you respond to is force! So I am ordering you to come back to the temple, _right now!_ ”

Korra responds to force, alright, but not in the way Tenzin probably hoped she would. “Why?” she challenges, stepping closer. “So I can sit around meditating over how bad I am at airbending? You know, now that I think about it, maybe the reason I can’t learn to airbend, is because I don’t even _need it!_ ”

“ _What?_ ” Ume croaks, the first time she’s spoken to Korra in days. “That is a ludicrous suggestion!”

“The Avatar needs to learn airbending!” Tenzin agrees, pointing a finger accusingly. “It is not optional!”

“No, _this_ is what I need to learn!” Korra insists, gesturing to the ring behind her. “Modern styles of fighting! How to mix the elements! Isn’t _that_ what the Avatar is about?”

“Being the Avatar is _not_ all about fighting, Korra!” Tenzin says, stepping forward as well. “When will you learn that?”

She doesn’t need to hear this. “I have a match to go finish,” she says dismissively, turning her back on him and walks to the metal platform that will take her back up to the ring, just as the ref calls for the end of round two. Below her, Tenzin strides away without looking at her, but Ume’s meet hers for a second before she’s out of sight.

Back up on the platform, she rolls her shoulders and cracks her neck. “I’ll give him a fight,” she mutters under her breath. Beside her, Mako spares her a glance, but looks away just as quickly.

“Round three!” The bell sounds, and Korra gets an instant repeat of round two. She’s attacked by all elements, each one flying at her in turn, with no hope of a break. Behind the cover of her arms, she sees Bolin and Mako trapped against the ropes, blocking each attack as they come. But then she has to look away fast, because a water blast gets past her defense, knocking her back to the edge of Zone 1, and from there she can’t stop back up to avoid the attacks coming at her in rapid succession, until she’s teetering on the edge of the ring. She spins to avoid a disc, and looks back to see the opposition waterbender smirking at her again. And something inside her clicks.

She turns, moving in a spiral motion, hands outstretched and steady, and suddenly dodging the attacks is the easiest thing in the world. Each of them blows past her like they’re in slow-motion and she’s in hyperdrive.

The attacks slow, and then they stop, and Bolin and Mako start to move. They bend in tandem, fire and earth knocking their opponents back, Korra’s water shoots sliding around them to hit back at the Platypus Bears. One of them finds the waterbender and he goes flying off the platform, and Korra gives a smirk of her own.

The earthbender and firebender follow in quick succession, and the end bell sounds, barely heard over the screaming of the crowd. Among the shouts, Korra hears Pabu’s distinct squeaky voice yell, “GO KORRA!”

It’s just like her dream; the lights, the noise. She takes it all in with wondering eyes, then heads over to Bolin, who’s posing for the crowd. They high-five, laughing, and both grin at Mako when he walks towards them.

“Korra,” he says, not nearly as contrite as Korra had hoped. “What can I say? You really came alive in that last round. The way you dodged those attacks…”

“You could say, ‘Sorry for ever doubting you, oh Korra the Magnificent?’” she suggests, and laughs at the face he pulls. “I’m kidding. Thanks, although I can’t take all the credit. Someone else taught me those moves.” She glances back into the stands. “And he’s probably waiting to ground me forever.”

“Aww, no afterparty?” Bolin says with a pout. “Ah well. We’ll have one after we win our first tournament match! Now come on, let’s go get our daemons.”

They head for the transport platform and move smoothly across to the player’s box, where Pabu and Amate are indeed waiting, Pabu perched on Amate’s head as is apparently usual. ”That was amazing, Korra!” he squeaks, bouncing a little. Amate bears it with amused patience, and also with a scratch under the chin from Mako. “I would hug you if that wouldn’t be really really weird!”

“Right back at you, Pabu,” Korra laughs. The door opens, and she turns to see Tenzin peering in.

“I don’t mean to interrupt your victory,” he says, voice calm once more, “but I’m afraid I must take Korra back to Air Temple Island now.”

“Is that Korra’s _dad_?” she hears Pabu whisper, followed by a thump and a squeak as Amate dumps him on the floor.

“He’s not my dad,” she says, “I’m just staying with him while I learn airbending.” Tenzin looks at her sharply when she says this, but she’s not ready to apologise for what she said yet, so she ignores him to slug Bolin on the shoulder. “I’ll see you at practice then?”

“Seven AM, bright and early,” Mako confirms as Bolin hisses and rubs his shoulder. “We’ll see you then… Avatar Korra.”

Oogi is waiting on the road outside, standing completely still except to occasionally lift his head and look at the spectators streaming out of the building. The trip back to island is silent, but she thinks it’s an understanding silence, rather than a frosty one filled with unforgiven words. When they land, Korra yawns widely and stretches.

“Sooo…” she says. “I’m pretty tired. I’m just gonna, go to bed.”

“Wait,” Tenzin says gently, stopping her in her tracks. “There’s something you must help me do first.”

The kids are all asleep, as is Pema, but there are plenty of Air Acolytes awake and willing to lend a hand in repairing the airbending device that Korra destroyed. The damage isn’t even that bad; most of the panels are just scorched, and the splintered ones can mostly be fixed with a bit of glue. Korra hauls the last intact panel into its proper place, dusts her hands, and looks over at Tenzin. Somehow, the words that refused to come earlier flow easily now. “I’m sorry,” she says. “For everything I said. I was just frustrated with myself, and I took it out on you.”

“I think I owe you an apology too,” Tenzin replies. “I was trying to teach you about patience, but I lost mine.”

“No hard feelings?” Korra says hopefully. Tenzin smiles, but it’s Ume who answers.

“Of course not,” she says, harsh voice softened. “By the way, you were really good out there tonight,” she adds. “You moved just like an airbender,” Tenzin agrees. Korra blinks in surprise.

“Wait, you stayed and watched?” she says, leaning in.

“I did,” Tenzin says. “And I’m glad for it; pro-bending turned out to be the perfect teaching tool for you.”

For a moment, Korra is happy enough that she almost grabs Tenzin and hugs him right there and then. But she contains the urge, and instead smiles at him brightly. “I’ll see you tomorrow for airbending practice,” she says, turning and jogging backwards, “bright and early!” Tenzin smiles back at her, so she adds, “And, by the way, I kind of permanently joined the Fire Ferrets and we’re playing in the tournament in a couple of weeks!”

Tenzin sighs loudly, but Ume just laughs.


	2. air tight

He stares at her disapprovingly as he says it, but Tenzin lets her out of her daily morning meditation on Monday, on account of her newly scheduled bending practice.

“Try not to make a habit of it,” he says, expression resigned, as his kids clamber over him, all begging to be allowed to go with Korra to see the “big fancy bending place”.

So here she is, throwing a ball around at seven in the morning, when she could have been dozing off in meditation. “What’s the big idea with making me train this early in the morning, anyway?” she grumbles. “The morning is _evil_.”

“We’re the rookies, so we get the worst timeslot in the gym,” Bolin explains. He looks as tired as she feels; Pabu is still asleep upstairs in the brothers’ apartment, and his unconsciousness is transmitting along the line to Bolin, even as he insists that his daemon being asleep actually makes him more _awake_.

“And you’re the rookiest of us all,” Mako adds. “We’ve got to get you up to speed if we want to survive in the tournament. Deal with it!” He throws the ball to Korra violently. She catches it and scowls.

“ _You_ deal with it!” she shouts, hurling it back at him with enough force to knock him clean off his feet. She crosses her arms and smirks, but feels bad when Amate gives her a disappointed look. Why does such a jerk have to have such a sweet daemon? It makes him impossible to get back at.

They all look around as the door cracks open, and a man in a dignified hat and coat strolls in, snake weasel daemon draped around his neck like a cravat. “There’re my little hardworking street urchins!” he says, voice like fine gravel. Bolin and Mako both step forward to meet him, daemons trailing behind, and Mako gives Korra a serious look. The message is clear: _stay out of this_.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Avatar Korra,” the man continues, patting a hand on her back. Instantly she decides she doesn’t like this guy.

“And you are?” she replies, raising an eyebrow. Either he doesn’t get the message or he just ignores it, because he laughs.

“Butakha!” he says, taking off his hat. “And Han Xin, of course.” His daemon bobs his head at her. She narrows her eyes, but takes Mako’s advice and walks away.

“Here’s your winnings for that last match,” she hears him say, then the slap of paper yuons. She turns to watch when she’s a couple of metres away, and sees Butakha take back every last yuon that he’d just handed over. As Bolin indignantly defends his grocery bill, Korra hears a squeaky yawn at her feet, and looks down to see Pabu watching the proceedings only slightly less intently than she is. Butakha leaves after telling them the price of entering the tournament, so she and Pabu wander over.

“Hey, morning, Pabu,” Bolin says unhappily as his daemon climbs up to his shoulder. He looks over at Korra. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to have a secret Avatar bank account overflowing with gold, would you?” he asks hopefully. She turns out her pockets and shrugs.

“I got nothing,” she says apologetically. “I’ve never really need money, actually; I’ve always had people taking care of me.” Mako’s features shutter closed, and Korra realises a second too late that that may have been the wrong thing to say to two teenagers who live by themselves in an attic.

“Then I wouldn’t say you have nothing,” he mutters, stooping to grab the ball before stalking over to the equipment bag a few metres away. Amate doesn’t follow, but rather shuffles to Bolin’s side and leans against him.

“Sorry,” Korra murmurs to Bolin. “I didn’t mean…”

“No, it’s alright,” he replies with a shrug, but Pabu curls up tightly around his neck and hides his face in the fur of his tail. “It’s just, ever since we lost our parents, Mako and Amate have been the one looking after me. I guess he misses having someone look after him, y’know?”

Amate doesn’t say anything, and a second later Mako comes back over, bag slung on his shoulder. They all pretend that he didn’t hear what Bolin had said.

“So, how are we going to come up with the money?” he asks. Bolin brightens instantly.

“Oh! Oh! I know! Me and Pabu have been practicing our tumbling routines. We could join a circus and feature as the headlining act!” he shouts triumphantly, punctuating with a grand sweeping gesture.

“There are no circuses in town, Bolin,” Mako says. Bolin deflates. “And anyway, we need _serious_ ideas.” Bolin deflates further.

“We _were_ serious,” Pabu says softly. Mako doesn’t change his expression, but Amate nudges against Bolin until Pabu uncurls from his shoulder and drops to the floor beside her, where she gives him a small lick between his ears.

“Just don’t worry about it,” Mako says, but his voice is gentler now. “I’ll figure something out. I always do. C’mon, Amate.” Amate gives Pabu one last nuzzle, then ambles away in Mako’s wake.

Pabu looks slightly happier, but Bolin is still looking at the floor with furrowed brows. “I liked your circus idea, Bolin,” Korra says, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You should do some street performances, and then when you show Mako all the money you raised, he’ll have to take you seriously!”

Bolin lifts his head, a glint in his eye. “You think so?” he asks. Pabu clambers up his side to perch on his shoulder once more.

“Totally!” Korra says, then glances outside. “Shoot, I need to be back at the temple soon.” She starts to jog away, but turns back to shout, “Go make some cash, guys!”

“We will!” Bolin and Pabu shout back together. Korra grins and continues jogging. They’d have the money raised no problem, and she can go take a nap before her airbending training begins.

 

* * *

 

Airbending training is _so much more fun_ now that she can finally move like an airbender. She still can’t actually bend air, but learning the stances and moves is almost as good, for now.

“Are there any airbender moves that _aren’t_ so, y’know… passive?” she asks during their lunch break through a mouthful of rice. Tenzin wrinkles his nose.

“Airbending is a primarily passive element,” he says in his best teaching voice. “It reflects the Air Nation’s culture of non-violence. Therefore, the majority of the movements you will learn are defensive and avoidant.”

“There must be _some_ fighting moves!” she argues. “Didn’t Aang fight off hundreds of bad guys before he ever learnt waterbending?”

Ume cackles. “Did my uncle tell you that?” she asks. Tenzin mutters something under his breath, then shakes his head. “Aang defeated his enemies using the strategies I just described to you,” he says evenly. “With defensive and avoidant movements, you can turn an enemy’s attack against them.”

“Just like in waterbending!” Korra says excitedly. Tenzin hesitates, then nods.

“I suppose. Although, the strategy in waterbending is more about-”

“Are there any other similarities between air and other elements?” Korra interrupts, bowl of rice completely forgotten. Ume eyes her curiously.

“Do you think that you can unlock your airbending by using the elements you have already mastered?” she asks. Korra blinks, then sits back.

“Huh,” she says. “I just thought that it was cool how different elements can go together, but… Do you think that would work?”

Tenzin puts a hand on his chin. “You know, it just might,” he says thoughtfully. “I’m sure it can’t do any harm, at least.” He strokes a finger along Ume’s feathers, and she smiles in that strange way bird daemons do; visibly they show no signs of smiling, but they exude a kind of aura of happiness. It’s strange, but also nice. “I’ll tell you what, Korra. Finish your lunch, and then I will show you a kata that was taught to me by both my father and my uncle, Lord Zuko.”

“Lord Zuko? You mean it’s a firebending kata?” Korra asks, grinning wide enough that it almost hurts. She’s great at firebending! “Thanks, Tenzin!”

“Eat your food,” he reminds her, and she shovels the cold rice into her mouth as quickly as possible.

When she’s done, Tenzin leads her to a different courtyard, this one larger and more open. “I know that you are close to mastery over fire,” he begins, and ignores Korra’s scoff, “but mixing fire with air can be dangerous. Air feeds fire; if you do manage to airbend with this kata, either the air or the fire you bend will be very powerful. Now, let us begin.”

Ume launches herself off his shoulder as he shifts into one of the more solid firebending stances. “First, I will show you the unmodified kata, although you will no doubt be familiar with it already,” he tells her. “But I would like for you to watch carefully how an airbender moves through firebending stances and attacks.”

She nods. He rests his hands in the traditional breath pose of firebending, settles into his stance, and then he moves. He lashes an arm out, then follows through with his other arm and kicks in a circular motion, landing solidly and immediately kicking his other leg in the same motion. Korra is indeed familiar with the kata, and she wonders at how different it looks when performed by someone trained to dodge and retreat, rather than stand and fight.

Tenzin swipes his hands as he moves forward, a move that would have generated a powerful shield of flames from any firebender. Then, while his imaginary opponent is blinded, he deals another circular kick, followed quickly by flaming punch after flaming punch, finishing them off with a double stream of fire from both hands. Or at least, he would have, if any flame had appeared.

The kata complete, he places his fist to his palm and exhales gently. In a tree a few metres away, Ume tuts.

“Your follow-up kick was sloppy,” she decides. Tenzin goes red. “I’m just a little out of practice!” he snaps, then visibly calms. “Now, Korra, I will show you the modified version, and you will see the differences and similarities between the elemental styles.”

“Can’t I try and guess how it will go?” Korra asks eagerly. She does a circular kick and then punches outwards. “Pow! Airbending!”

Tenzin sighs. “You are still not grasping the basis of airbending movement,” he says, “although you are improving. Just watch me, please.”

He goes into a firebending stance again, but this time it’s lighter; it almost reminds Korra of how Mako stands, right before a pro-bending match starts. Again, he starts by breathing in deeply, and then he lashes his arm out. But this time, when he follows through, he jumps, and does two spinning kicks mid-air, one after the other. A blast of air pushes out from him as his other arm lashes out, but not from his feet. Then, as he lands, he goes not into the flame shield movements, but instead something similar yet incredibly different: his hands spin, not from side to side, but rather in _front_ of him, and a second later a disc of air is whirling out from his palms. For a moment, Korra is a little disappointed. Yeah, it _looks_ awesome, but it doesn’t have the same distraction effect that the flame shield did –

Tenzin pushes outwards in an open-palmed mimic of the flame punch movement, and the disc shoots out, knocking his imaginary opponent off their feet, and quite likely several metres into the air. Korra is no longer disappointed.

As Tenzin once more places a fist to his palm and breathes out, Korra bounds up to him and grabs him by the sleeve. “That was amazing!” she says happily. “Can I do it now? I bet I can get the airbending part on the first try, if I mix it with firebending!”

“This kata is not so much about mixing the elements as it is about allowing them to work together, Korra,” Tenzin says, shaking her off. Ume swoops down to perch on his shoulder once more, and Korra rolls her eyes.

“Yep, working together, got it,” she says. “Now can I try it?” She goes into the lighter firebending stance and looks at him hopefully. At his “go ahead” gesture, she narrows her eyes and launches into the sequence. Fire swipe, following through with a jumping spin – all she has to do is two fire kicks, while sending out an air blast from her other hand –

The first kick is perfect, a jet of flame arching from her pointed toes, but the air blast fails to appear, and the second kick generates little more than sparks. She lands and growls wordlessly in frustration. “I thought it would work,” she says angrily, punching a fire fist to her left. Tenzin watches on patiently.

“As I said, you’re still not grasping the proper technique of airbending movement,” he tells her, not unkindly. “This was only meant to test whether you could use an element you have already mastered to unlock the element you cannot yet use. It seems you cannot, so we shall return to more simple movements until you can bend air.”

Korra sighs in disappointment, but accepts the situation with a growing determination. The more she practices, the sooner she’ll be able to try again. “Alright,” she says, falling back into the basic airbending stance. “Show me the whirlwind again.”

There’s only so much so many moves she can practice without being able to bend, so after another hour, Korra heads back to the newly repaired airbending device, while Tenzin retreats back inside. By this time the sun is starting to set, and it gives the place a peaceful sort of glow. Jinora and Ikki are there already, sitting in the shade and watching as their daemons, both currently cat owls, chase each other above the device, swooping and playfully snapping at each other’s feathers. When they spot Korra, they both smile and wave. Korra waves back.

“Wanna give me a hand with this thing?” Korra asks, gesturing to it. They jump up and shift into identical stances, then start to move their hands; slowly at first, sweeping in a spiral movement, but then suddenly faster, before sending the air into the wooden panels of the device, making them spin madly.

Korra weaves through the panels and wonders at how she ever found this difficult; she flows from one space to another, never pausing, following the currents of air. It only takes her a few seconds to clear the maze of panels, and then she’s jumping back out and bracing her hands on her knees. She still has a while to go before she can get the effortless movements that Jinora and Ikki have.

“Ooh, he’s cute,” she hears Jinora say. “Korra, is that the firebender that drives you crazy?” Instantly she straightens up, eyes widening. This is what she gets for gossiping with kids too young to know when to keep their mouths shut!

“Does he drive you crazy in a bad way?” Ikki chirps. “Or does he drive you crazy like you _liiiike_ him?”

She’d definitely meant it in a bad way, but Mako doesn’t know that. Frantically, she stamps a foot and sends the both of them shooting upwards on a pillar of earth, their daemons flying after them with shrill squawks. They’ll be fine. She turns to Mako with a cough. “Hey, Mako,” she says, smiling weakly. Behind her, she hears the girls land gently, giggling.

If Mako finds anything strange about the situation, he doesn’t show it. Even Amate looks serious, for once. “You seen Bolin?” he asks brusquely.

Normally she’d make a snarky retort, but Amate’s lack of warmth makes her realise something’s up. “Not since practice,” she replies. “Think something’s wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Mako says, shaking his head. ”I haven’t seen him since then either, and he has a knack for getting into stupid situations.” Amate looks like she wants to say something, but sighs instead, and Mako continues, “I’ll see later.” He starts to walk away, Amate following with slumped shoulder, but Korra can’t just let this go.

“Wait!” she calls after him, and hurries to catch up. “I could help you look for him?”

“Nah, I got it,” Mako says. She remembers what Bolin had said about Mako looking after him, and catches his arm.

“Hey, tough guy,” she says, meeting his eyes. “Let me help you.” Inspiration strikes. “We can take Naga!”

“Who’s Naga?” Mako asks, glancing around as if Naga would suddenly jump out of the trees and introduce herself. Korra smiles.

“She’s my best friend,” she tells him. “And a great tracker. She’ll find Bolin in no time.”

Mako hesitates, and she can see his need for independence warring with his need to find Bolin as soon as possible. Amate, however, has no such dilemma. “Then it’s settled,” she says firmly. “Where’s Naga now? Can she get here quickly?”

“Let’s find out,” she says with a grin, and whistles as hard as she can. Mako and Amate wince. Korra turns back to Jinora and Ikki, still watching from a distance, and shouts, “Tell Tenzin that a friend of mine has gone missing, and I’m going to go find him!”

Jinora nods, and Ikki shouts back, “Good luck!” just as Naga bursts through the treeline, shaking leaves from her fur. Mako stares.

“Your best friend is a polar bear dog?” he says blankly. Naga sniffs at Amate’s shell, and she politely lifts her nose to meet Naga’s. “Somehow, that makes perfect sense.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Korra says brightly, rubbing a hand over Naga’s back. “She’s actually my companion – every Avatar has had one. They’re kind of like our daemons.” Mako, who’d been scratching Naga behind the ear with a small smile, abruptly goes pale and yanks his hand away. “Not like that,” Korra laughs. “She’s just a regular animal, except we can understand each other, kind of.”

Mako eyes her warily, then slowly lowers his hand back onto Naga’s head. Her tongue lolls out. “So you’re sure she can find Bolin?” he asks.

“You just watch and learn, city boy,” she replies, and vaults up into the saddle. She holds out a hand, and when Mako takes it, she pulls him up into the saddle behind her. “How fast can you run, Amate?”

She grins, flashing her teeth. “Pretty damn fast.”

Korra grins back and flicks Naga’s leads. “Then keep up!”

 

* * *

 

They make the ferry back to the mainland just in time, and from there, Mako directs her to a few of Bolin’s usual hangouts, hoping to catch his scent. The noodle bar is a bust, although the look on the owner’s face when Mako bursts in on the back of a polar bear dog is almost worth it. From there, they head for the west tram station, then back to the brothers’ apartment just in case, and then further into the city to Central City Station.

It’s dark enough that he large square outside the station is lit with fire lamps, giving the stone paving a yellow tint. As they walk off the street and into the square, Korra lifts her head to look up at the enormous statue of Lord Zuko. He looks young, probably the age he was when he was crowned Fire Lord – younger than she is now – and he’s holding a hand aloft, with a fire burning constantly in his upturned palm. At his feet, his daemon sits and stares up into the flame. Something stirs in the back of Korra’s mind.

“Sifu Hotman,” she murmurs, without quite knowing why. Behind her, Mako shifts, looking around the square.

“Well, this is the last place I can think of,” he says. Amate grunts, and when they both look over at her, she gestures with her head to a gang of rough-housing kids, partially hidden by the statue. Korra slides off Naga’s back and whispers, “Wait here.”

When they get closer, Korra sees that the kids look raggedy, all of them wearing too-big or too-worn clothing, hair greasy and skin dirty. She knows that there’s a fairly large homeless population in the city, and Butakha had called Bolin and Mako street urchins, but it’s still a shock to see such obviously destitute kids surrounded by adults who barely even glance at them.

Mako doesn’t look shocked at all to see them; in fact, he seems downright familiar with them. “You guys seen my brother around here today?” he calls out. The kids cease their playing, and one of them – their leader, apparently – answers Mako.

“Perhaps,” he says nonchalantly. His daemon shifts from some form of dog into a miniature copy of Amate with too-big paws, and they touch noses. “My memory’s a little foggy. Maybe you can clear it up?” He thumbs his nose and then holds out his hand.

“You’re good, Scoochy,” Mako huffs. “A real pro.” He digs a yuon out of his pocket and slaps it into Scoochy’s palm, where it instantly disappears into the kid’s pocket.

“Yeah, I seen him,” Scoochy says.

“When?”

“Around noon.”

“What was he doing?”

“He was performing some sort of gymnastics thing with Pabu,” Scoochy’s daemon pipes up. Their voice is high-pitched, and they shift quickly into something that looks like a fire ferret, except grey. “It was pretty good, but-”

“Koji! Shh!” Scoochy hisses. Koji quietens, and Mako looks at the kid intently.

“But what?” he asks. Scoochy says nothing and holds out his hand again. Mako sighs, and hands over another yuon.

“Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash,” Scoochy reports immediately. “Bo took off with him in his hot rod. Looks like the gangs are muscling up for something big. But you didn’t hear it from me!” With that, he scoops up Koji and takes off, waving to the other street kids to follow.

“What’s he talking about?” Korra asks, taking in the sudden tightness of Mako’s shoulders.

“If Shady Shin’s pulling kids off the street, then he must need extra security real bad,” he mutters. “Sounds like there’s a turf war brewing, and Bolin’s caught right in the middle of it.”

Korra has no time to ask what that means – Mako’s already sprinting back to Naga and vaulting onto her back, and Amate is urging her on with a rumble of “Hurry!”

Naga’s fast, and Korra urges her on even faster as Mako tersely directs them through the streets, fast enough that Amate is panting as she keeps pace. “Are you gonna tell me what that was all about?” Korra says over the whip of the wind. “What’s a turf war? Tenzin told me that gangs are a problem here – is it really that bad?”

“It’s worse than the council knows,” Mako says ominously. “A turf war is when gangs fight for territory, or power. There hasn’t been one in the city since I was eleven, and it ended with the Terror Triads being taken down by the Red Monsoons. If one breaks out now, it’s not going to be pretty.”

They slow at an intersection to wait for two trams to pass, and then continue running. “So where are we headed?”

“The Triple Threat Triad headquarters – that’s the gang Shady Shin works for,” Mako says. “Hopefully Bolin’s there, and nothing’s gone down yet.”

“Wait,” Korra says, twisting in the saddle and frowning at him. “Triple Threat Triad? I beat up some of those yahoos when I got into town. Why would Bolin get tangled-?”

“MAKO!” a high voice shrieks, and Naga slams to a halt as a tiny blur of red plants itself in her way. Mako is on the ground in an instant, crouched on the ground and shoulder to shoulder with Amate, and Korra slides down after him.

It’s Pabu, streaked with dirt and trembling so hard he’s almost blurring – no, he _is_ blurring at the edges, just a tiny unnatural fuzzing on his fur. Mako looks almost as horrified as she feels, and he spares her only a moment’s glance before he scoops Pabu up and cradles him against his chest.

Korra looks away; it feels like too private a moment to watch. Of course she’d noticed when Amate had had no problem leaning against Bolin back at the gym, but he’d been wearing the thick pro-bending gear. It’s different, here, even with Mako wearing those fingerless gloves and wrapped in a scarf. She wonders at the trust such a thing must require – if she had a daemon, she’d never let anyone near them.

 _Him_ , she corrects herself automatically, then frowns.

But the contact must do some good, because when she looks back, Pabu is lying on Amate’s head, still shaking but no longer uncertain around the edges. “I got away,” he whispers. “They were grabbing everyone’s daemons – they were wearing gloves, but-”

“It’s okay, Pabu,” Mako says gently. “Just tell us where Bolin is, and we’ll go get him.”

“I’ve never been this far away,” Pabu continues, like Mako hadn’t spoken. “It hurts.” His voice breaks, and Korra can see how Mako almost reaches out to touch him again, but clenches his fists instead.

“You can still feel him,” Amate rumbles, gently lowering her head so that Pabu slides harmlessly to the ground. She licks his fur and presses her nose into his side, then says, “Tell Mako where to go, and we’ll get him back.”

Pabu gives one last silent tremor, then steps over to meet Naga’s curious nose with his own. From there, he jumps onto her neck, and follows her spine until he reaches Mako, then climbs his shirt and nestles around his neck like a second scarf. “We have to go east,” he says, voice still cracked, but louder now. Korra doesn’t need to tell Naga where to go; she hears Pabu’s instruction and starts running, her own sense of direction far outstripping Korra’s.

They only have to run for another minute before Pabu squeaks out, “There he is!” just as a truck and five motorcycles roar past. Mako flares out a fireball and hits one of the unsuspecting motorcycles in the front tyre, and it skids out. Korra flicks the leads and yells, “After them, Naga!”

Naga thunders down the road, and Mako leans halfway out of the saddle to continue throwing flames, but the motorcycles are too quick. Korra pulls her fists in, feeling the strength in her core, and then thrusts them out, ripping the street up and making one of the motorcycles skid briefly - but then they use the ground she’s ripped up as a _ramp_ , and she narrows her eyes in fury as they land with barely a wobble.

The chase continues, Naga and Amate keeping pace with the motorcycles, Korra and Mako sending out attack after ineffective attack, until they burst out of the street and into a wide open space that must be a construction site of some sort. Korra pulls in all her strength, gathering herself to pull up a massive wall just in front of the truck that presumably has Bolin in the back -

And two of the motorcycles skid to a stop, the riders throwing something that flies through the air like a boomerang, and Naga goes down _hard_.

Korra’s thrown through the air, and going by Pabu’s shriek, Mako is too. She lands and rolls with it, coming up on her knees just as Mako slides to a stop a few metres away. He groans, and close by, Pabu doesn’t make a sound - just curls up a ball and starts to shiver again.

Light footsteps make their way towards them, and Korra automatically jumps to her feet in front of Mako, who stands almost as quickly. She can see Naga, legs bound with some cord that Amate is trying to gnaw through, but more importantly, she sees the two figures dressed in dark clothing and masks with goggles somersaulting their way towards her. She doesn’t wait for them to get there.

She throws herself forward with a punch that shoots flame at the figure heading her way, but they dodge easily, and then she has to block a punch herself. It puts her on the defensive, and suddenly, any attack she tries to make gets redirected. Even her spinning kick, used in its natural element of fire now, is knocked away. Another kick, and this time the figure gets her in a leg lock, punching their fingertips up her side in a way that makes her entire right side go numb.

She grunts in surprise and clutches her arm, glaring at the figure, then renews her attack, now only able to use her right arm and leg for it. It doesn’t slow her down; she jumps out kicks out, flaring as much fire as she can from her foot, then lands and immediately throws another punch, but the figure is too fast. She hears Mako cry out, and a second later the figure manoeuvres under her guard and jabs their fingertips up her right side. She doesn’t even have time to make a sound before they jump, boots meeting her chest and throwing her back.

When she lands, it’s a metre away from Mako, who she can see is in the same situation. She can’t see Pabu, and she doesn’t know if that’s good or bad. Her thought process is strangely blocked; she sees the two figures coming at her and Mako, knows that the whirling cords they spin aren’t good, but she can’t react beyond that. All she can do is stare as they come closer and prepare to throw -

And pause at the sound of two roars, together so loud that Korra can feel the ground tremble. Naga and Amate bound in, knocking the figures back and snarling, teeth bared. The figures stagger back, glance at each other, then launch themselves backwards, flinging canisters that explode into some sort of thick green mist when they hit the ground. Korra coughs, waving a hand to clear the air.

The noise of motorcycles makes her look up, and she lashes out, meaning to blast a wide swath of fire at their backs - but nothing happens. “I can’t bend!” she cries, trying again. Nothing. “What is this?!”

“Chi blockers,” Mako says distractedly. “Those weren’t Triple Threat goons, they were Amon’s henchmen.” He looks around. “Where’s Pabu? I lost him in the fight.”

Korra scans the ground, and after a moment, spots the bundle of red fur metres away. “There!” she cries, and they both run, Amate and Naga bounding after them. Amate reaches Pabu first, and she lifts him by the scruff of his neck. He’s blurring at the edges again, worse this time - now Korra can see the terrifying blank spots that appear and disappear on the very tips of his fur, making him look like something out of a ghost story. She remembers hearing tales of spirits that would flicker in the darkness, forever doomed to be trapped between their world and the spirit world, never existing in one or the other for more than a moment at a time. As she watches, a fleck of something golden drifts from his fur and falls, winking out before it touches the ground. It's Dust, she realises with horror. 

“What’s happening to him?” Korra whispers, clutching at Naga’s fur. Mako’s mouth is drawn in a tight line.

“Their range is stretching,” he says. “If it gets too far, they’ll be Separated.” He puts his face in his hands and just breathes for a moment, then looks up, expression determined. “Amate,” he says, turning to his daemon. “When was the last time you touched Bolin? Do you still have enough of a link to follow?” She shakes her head. “If I did, I would have used it in the first place,” she replies, with a faint edge of panic. Mako rubs his hand over his forehead, then snaps his fingers. “Alright,” he says, “I have an idea.”

Gently, he takes Pabu from Amate, holding him in one hand and loosening his scarf with the other. Then, he places Pabu in the makeshift sling and tightens it again, so that he has his hands free, but is still in direct skin contact with the daemon. “How about now?” he asks Amate. “Can you get a link through me?”

Amate closes her eyes and stands in silence for so long that Korra worries something has gone terribly wrong. Then, her eyes flash open.

“I have him,” she says, and doesn’t even wait for Korra and Mako to get back on Naga before running.

If Amate was tired before, she isn’t now. She runs with purpose, clawed feet digging up the earth with every step, and this time Naga is the one who has to try and keep up. They’re all silent; occasionally she thinks she hears Mako murmur something, but it’s almost inaudible over the sound of wind and pounding feet, and it probably is none of her business anyway. She just concentrates on the road ahead, and knows that every step brings them closer to saving Bolin and Pabu both.

After another minute, Amate’s steps falter, and Mako says, “Pabu? Are you okay?”

“It hurts less now,” she hears Pabu reply, soft but steady. “We’re close.”

“Just focus on the link, and I’ll get us there,” Amate calls back.

Sure enough, not thirty seconds later they come to a stop at the end of a dark alley that opens into a large lot, at the back of which is a warehouse. It looks old, with crumbling brickwork and rusted exterior pipes running along its length, but there’s a chi blocker standing at the entrance. “He’s in there,” Pabu whispers. He’s made his way out of Mako’s scarf to perch on his shoulder, with absolutely no sign of blurring. “He feels alright, not hurt or anything.”

“He better not be,” Amate growls. Mako places a calming hand on her head.

“Do we have a gameplan here, Captain?” Korra asks, voice low. Mako turns back to the warehouse, surveying it as best as he can from this distance.

“This is an old standard model of warehouse,” he says after a few moments. “I worked in one of these when I was twelve, before they designed a better pipe system and decided to stop building this model. There should be a basement storage level underneath the entire building, and if they have that, then…” Without warning he sprints out of the alley, forcing Amate to go running after him, followed quickly by Korra and Naga. They go silently, and the chi blocker out front doesn’t even look around. Mako skids to a stop at the wall and hugs it, glancing around, and the others do the same. “Somewhere along the wall is a service tunnel,” he whispers. “It’ll look like a plain wooden trapdoor – actually, if Amon’s using this as a base, he’ll have upgraded it to metal. If he even knows about it, which we’ll hope he doesn’t.”

“You think he won’t know about it?” Korra says skeptically. “He probably has half his chi blockers guarding the entrance! If we’re going in that way, we’ll need a distraction.”

Mako furrows his brows in frustration, but a second later, Amate says suddenly, “The pipes!”

“What?” But Mako is clicking his fingers in realization, and he quickly explains,

“I said they designed a better pipe system – the old one was too faulty. See these external pipes?” He nudges the one running along the wall at calf level with his foot. It shifts, just barely. “They wanted to pump more water into the boiler room, and more steam out, but they ended up almost overloading the system with pressure. Every one of these warehouses only runs on half power, three quarter at most, after what happened down on Factory Lane. But if we were to break into the boiler room and turn up the pressure…”

“Wouldn’t that make something, I don’t know, _explode?_ ” Korra hisses. Mako waves a hand.

“We wouldn’t turn it up to full,” he says, “Just enough for the pipes to build up pressure, and then, we crack some open and fill the place with steam. We can grab Bolin without anyone even seeing us!”

“Perfect!” Korra grins. “So how do we get into the boiler room?”

“Well, it’s more like how _you_ get into the boiler room…”

Their first task is determining whether Bolin’s being kept upstairs on the main floor, or downstairs on the storage level. Mako kneels in front of Pabu, who’s sitting upright and looking solemn.

“Just get in through one of the holes in the windows, don’t get seen, and don’t get caught,” Mako repeats. Pabu nods quickly, then scrambles up the side of the warehouse, clever paws finding handholds in the crumbling mortar between bricks, before steadying himself and jumping out onto a barely exposed window pane, where he balances precariously. Amate plants her feet and watches in concentration, probably ready to catch him if he falls. But he edges his way along to a fist-sized hole in the glass, then squirms his way through and drops out of sight.

“Will he be okay from that fall?” Korra murmurs. The corner of Mako’s mouth turns up.

“Pabu’s been jumping from great heights since he was a puffball,” Amate huffs. “He will be fine.”

Sure enough, minutes later, Pabu appears around the corner of the warehouse and sprints towards them, short legs pumping. “He’s on the main floor,” he pants. “And he’s fine.” He shakes himself violently, and dust flies from his fur.

Next, Mako briefs Korra on the service door into the boiler room. “I don’t know if they’ll have a chi blocker outside, but they’ll definitely have one in the room,” he says. “Think you can take them?”

“I’ll show them what happens to people who take my bending,” Korra replies, cracking her knuckles.

After another minute of discussion, Mako sends Amate to make a commotion in the alleyways near the back of the warehouse, and when they see the chi blocker posted on the back entrance run to investigate the crashing and snarling, Korra runs. There’s actually two entrances at the back, she sees as she flies past; one on ground level, and one up on a platform with a tall steel ladder attached. She notes it and continues on.

Luck seems to be on her side, for once; there are no guards at all on the other side of the warehouse. She send a quick thanks to whatever spirit deals with breaking people out of places and searches for the boiler room service door.

It’s closer to the front of the warehouse, and made of some metal that looks like it was once sturdy, but is now rusted around the edges. She stifles the urge to kick it off its hinges and instead tests the handle. It’s locked, predictably, and Korra curses. Breaking it off its hinges it is, then, just as quietly as possible.

As it turns out, it’s fairly impossible to break down a door quietly, and so she rushes in before the element of surprise can be lost. But when she looks around, hands up and ready to bend at any chi blockers who emerge from the shadows, the room is empty, save for the mass of tangling pipes and the boiler itself. She hurries over to it, knowing that _someone_ will arrive at any moment to investigate the loud clanging –

“You go check it out, if you’re so concerned!” she hears a muffled voice say from just outside the door into the warehouse. She freezes, then frantically grabs at the pressure wheel Mako had described and starts cranking.

“It’s probably just the pipes settling,” another voices argues. A small jet of steam bursts from a crack in one of the pipes – nowhere near enough to flood the whole of the warehouse main floor. She turns another wheel. “C’mon, just go in there for a second and make sure we’re not gonna get blown up. You know how these old buildings are.”

More steam, but still not enough. “Fine,” the first voice says, a second before the door opens. Korra ducks into a shadowed alcove below some of the larger pipes, right next to the boiler itself, and waits for the man to come closer. His feet come into view and something strikes Korra as vaguely wrong, but she pushes the feeling aside and lunges out, grabbing him by the collar and slamming him into the far wall, knocking the breath out of his lungs before he has a chance to cry out. He tries to throw a punch, but she deflect easily and grabs his wrist, swinging him around. He lifts off the ground, and then a second later he slams bodily into the boiler, smashing the upper pipes apart and sending billows of steam up into the air.

“Huh,” Korra says. “Thanks!” The other guard is bound to have heard the crash, so she quickly starts to bend the water in the steam, swirling it around her to build up force, then smashing it through the wall and out into the main space of the warehouse. She can hear shouts of alarm and runs for the service door, but hesitates when she realises what was wrong with the chi blocker she incapacitated.

He has no daemon. The ones she and Mako had fought hadn’t had them, either. Korra suppresses a shiver and slips out of the service door and back into the night.

The city is unfamiliar at night, the streets dark and dimly lit with fire lamps. She runs, no Naga to carry her or Mako to guide her, just hoping she can find her way back to the bayside so she can follow the water back to Central City Station. She’ll meet up with Mako and Bolin there, and hopefully Naga will be the ones carrying them.

After another five minutes she slows to a walk, satisfied that no one’s following her. There are a few people still out, even though it must be midnight by now, and Korra avoids eye contact. Her steps echo slightly, and she misses Naga’s hulking presence. She wonders if this is how people feel without their daemons.

It’s nearly half an hour later that she finally stumbles across a familiar street, and from there she heads to Central City Station. When she spots the flickering light of the fire in the statue of Lord Zuko’s palm, she breaks into a sprint and finally bursts into the square. She grins when she sees Naga running towards her, and they meet in the middle, Naga giving her slobbery licks as she hugs her around the neck. “It’s okay, girl,” she murmurs. “I’m okay. Where’s Mako? Where’s Bolin?”

“Korra, you’re alright!” a voice calls out, and she looks up to see Mako striding towards her, Amate leading the way. She doesn’t get the chance to answer; a moment later he’s pulling her in for a hug. She goes stiff with surprise, and he lets her go, backing up quickly and coughing. It could just be the light, but his cheeks look red.

“I’m fine,” she says eventually, somewhere between suspicious and pleased. “Is Bolin..?”

He nods over to the statue and starts walking, leaving her to follow. They round the base, and Korra sees Bolin, leaning back against the stone with his knees to his chest, Pabu a bundle of red under his chin. When he looks up at the sound of footsteps, he grins at her weakly. “Hey, Avatar Korra,” he says. He looks too pale and he has bruises under his eyes, and a smudge of something that might be blood smeared across his cheek. “My hero, huh?”

“Tell her what you told me, Bo,” Mako says gently, resting a hand on Bolin’s shoulder. Bolin looks away, shivers, then meets Korra’s eyes, his expression more serious than Korra has ever seen him look.

“I was passed out for some of it, but… the guards were talking, near us. The others – Shady Shin, and Lightning Bolt Zolt, and Wei Min from the docks – they’d taken their daemons somewhere else, so we were all pretty out of it.” Pabu curls up tighter against his chest and Bolin strokes a finger across his fur in a slow, repetitive movement. “They must have thought we couldn’t hear. Or maybe they just didn’t care,” he adds. Mako’s hand tightens on his shoulder and he continues, “They were talking about the demonstration tomorrow night. The Revelation, they called it. What they’d taken us for.” Bolin shudders, and looks up at Korra from underneath furrowed brows

“Korra, they were saying that we were going to get our bending taken away,” he says, with a quiet desperation. “Amon can take people’s bending away.” He swallows loudly. “Permanently.”


	3. hardboiled... afraid

Korra sleeps on the brothers’ couch for what’s left on the night. The sunlight pouring in through the multitude of windows wakes her up soon after dawn and she groans, rolling over and pressing her face into the cushions. “No airbending today,” she mutters, not fully conscious.

This changes when she hears a cry of alarm from Mako and Bolin’s room upstairs, followed by a loud thump.

Instantly she’s on her feet and running for the steps. Did the chi blockers track them back here? She doesn’t know how they got past her, but if they think they’re getting their hands on Bolin again –

She bursts through the trapdoor, fists at the ready with fire flickering above them, only to stop in her tracks when she takes in the scene.

Mako is kneeling in front of Bolin, both of them on the floor next to one of their beds. Bolin has his head down and he’s shaking, clutching Pabu to his chest with a white-knuckled grip. Amate’s head is resting on his shoulder. Mako is the only one to look up at Korra’s entrance.

“We’re fine,” he says shortly. He looks tired. “Just… go home, Korra. We’ll see you around.” With that, he turns back to Bolin and murmurs something too soft for her to hear. Korra turns away and heads back downstairs.

Her thoughts buzz as she collects Naga from outside the apartment and heads for the ferry to Air Temple Island. Some part of her still doesn’t believe that Amon can take a person’s bending away forever – doesn’t want to believe, maybe. Just the thought is enough to make her curl in on herself with a shiver. Below her, Naga senses her fear and whines, looking back at her with large brown eyes. Korra rubs her ears and exhales deeply. She can’t think about it now; she needs the safety of the island, needs Tenzin to assure her of the impossibility of Amon’s claims in his steady voice. She needs sleep. She needs to stop replaying Bolin’s shout in her mind, needs to stop reliving the numb feeling of the chi blockers taking her bending away.

The woman operating the ferry at the dock refuses to let her pay for the trip. Her polar-dog daemon shyly touches noses with Naga, and his tail wags the whole trip. By the time they reach the island, Korra knows what she has to do, and urges Naga towards the main house. Tenzin’s standing out underneath one of the covered walkways stretching from the house, and he sees her only a moment after she sees him. “Korra!” Ume says in surprise. Korra slows to a stop in front of them, Naga at her back. “Mingma told me – did you find your friend?”

“Yeah,” Korra says. “Chi blockers had taken him.”

“ _What?_ ” Tenzin says, eyebrows shooting up. “Amon’s– is he alright?”

“He’s okay,” Korra says, looking away and remembering the sight of Pabu flickering, golden Dust trailing off his fur. “He’s pretty shaken up. But – he told us that Amon’s holding a rally. Tonight. He’s going to show everyone that he can take people’s bending away, for good.”

“Korra, that’s impossible,” Tenzin says gently. “Only the Avatar has ever possessed that ability.” It’s exactly what Korra had wanted to hear, but somehow it just makes her feel worse.

“He got his mooks to capture Bolin and some gang– I mean, some other benders,” she amends hastily. Tenzin narrows his eyes but doesn’t interrupt. “We got Bolin out, but Amon’s gonna use the others to show everyone what he can do. We have to do something!” she finishes urgently. Ume eyes her for a few long moments, and then Tenzin sighs.

“I believe you,” he tells her. “I’ll call an emergency meeting of the Council. We’ll figure out where this rally is being held, and send police-”

“No,” Korra interrupts. “Let me go in alone. We need to know if Amon really can take a person’s bending away, and I’ll be able to find their new meeting place better on my own.”

“I will not allow _the Avatar_ to go alone into an _Equalist rally!_ ” Tenzin exclaims. “Of all the foolhardy–”

“Woah, alright,” Korra says, holding up her hands in surrender. “I’ll take Mako with me. He’s the firebender on my team – he can hold his own in a fight. And so can I,” she adds pointedly. When Tenzin opens his mouth to retaliate, she continues quickly, “No one will even know I’m there! I’ll go in disguise, and then I can come back and tell you their plans!” Again, Tenzin looks about to interrupt, so again she continues, “If you try to keep me here, I’ll break out and go anyway!”

Tenzin pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs again. After a few moments Ume mutters, “This is the worst plan I’ve ever heard, and I grew up with Sila and Bumi.”

“But it just may work,” Tenzin says grudgingly. “Fine. But you _must_ be back on this island by no later than midnight, or I will be alerting Chief Bei Fong’s officers!”

Korra’s torn between relief and dread at getting what she’d asked for, but she doesn’t let it show. Instead, she nods and says, “I will.”

Tenzin insists on training her in some more airbending moves, but Korra’s few hours of sleep catch up to her quickly and he sends her away when she starts to yawn widely every thirty seconds. She sleeps like the dead until midday, and then heads back to the ferry, sending off one last “I’ll be fine!” to Tenzin and Ume as she goes.

For the second time that day, Korra leaves Naga at the foot of the stairs leading up the Mako and Bolin’s apartment and climbs. This time, however, she knocks on the trapdoor and waits. Sure enough, the sound of muffled footsteps hurry across the floor, and she hears Bolin call out, “Mako? Did you forget your key again?”

“It’s Korra!” she shouts back, and a second later he’s hauling the trapdoor up with a wide grin.

“Hey, Korra!” he says. “Come in!” He holds out a hand and she takes it, letting him pull her up into the apartment. For a moment they just stand there, hanging onto each other’s hands, before separating. Bolin gives a loud cough and says, “Soooo… you here for any particular reason? Or did you just want to come see me?” He winks, and Korra laughs.

“All business, I’m afraid,” she replies. Then she frowns and looks around the apartment. “Where’s Pabu?” she asks. Bolin rolls his eyes.

“Still asleep, as usual,” he grumbles. “What business can I help you with, Avatar Korra?”

He’s watching her with bright, friendly eyes, and she suddenly feels guilty for dragging him back into something that had clearly been traumatic for him. “Stop me if this is completely rude, but…” she begins. “I know you and Mako lived on the street for a long time.” She pauses, and Bolin shrugs.

“It’s okay,” he says. “It’s not like we ignore it – it was a big part of our lives. You’re allowed to talk about it.”

“That’s not the part I was worried about being rude,” Korra replies with a grimace. “I want to find out where they’re holding the rally tonight, since we tore up their old building – I have a feeling Amon will want it going ahead no matter what. Do you by chance know anyone who would know anything about it?”

Luckily, Bolin doesn’t look offended; if anything, he becomes thoughtful, putting a hand to his chin. “I can’t think of anyone of the top of my head,” he says apologetically. “Me and Mako were pretty well-known as benders, in our area. Not too many anti-benders lining up to be friends, y’know?”

“Right,” Korra says, heart sinking. “Guess it’s back to the drawing board, then.” Something about Bolin’s words stir a memory, and a second later it comes to her – the man with the gopher daemon in Republic City Park, yelling about “the anti-bending revolution”.

“You look like you just figured something out,” Bolin says shrewdly. Korra grins.

“I met a guy on my first day here who was an Equalist,” she tells him. “I didn’t really get what he was going on about at the time, but now – I bet if we can find him, he’ll know about the rally tonight!”

“We?” Bolin asks, before matching her grin with one of his own. “Alright! Korra and Bolin, teaming up to take down the bad guys and save the city!”

It’s good to see him back to his cheerful self, but… “Are you sure you want to come with me?” Korra asks. “If you don’t want to go near the Equalists again, it’s okay.”

Bolin meets her eyes, and his grin turns into something sharper. “Korra,” he says seriously, “there is honestly nothing I’d like to do more than to see those people again.”

 

* * *

 

Naga seems to like Bolin, jumping up and licking his cheek when they descend down the steps, so when they clear the arena, Korra climbs onto Naga’s back and offers her hand out to Bolin, just as she had with Mako. He accepts with a grin, and she hauls him up into the saddle. He sits a little closer than Mako had, but Korra finds she doesn’t mind.

The city is bustling at lunch hour, food vendors set up on ever main street and workers rushing between shifts. When it becomes too hard to push through the crowds, Bolin directs her towards a less well-known way to the park. “Well, not less well-known,” Pabu adds from his customary perch on Bolin’s shoulder. “More like… no-one-goes-there-because-it’s-gang-territory.”

“ _What?!_ ” Korra shouts, pulling up on Naga’s leads in surprise. She growls, and Korra drops the leads and pats her head soothingly with a mumbled apology. Then, she turns back to Bolin and Pabu with a scowl. “ _Gang territory?_ ” she hisses. “Seriously, first you run off with that Shady Shin guy, now this? Are you a gang member or something?”

“Not anymore!” Bolin protests. Korra stares. “Me and Mako _may_ have done some work for the Triads in the past, but that’s done now!”

“So you’re both criminals,” Korra says. “Great.” She turns around and picks up the leads again, but Bolin grabs her shoulder and turns her back to face him.

“We’re not criminals!” he says harshly. Pabu’s ears are flattened, but he stays silent. “We never sold drugs or– or _killed_ people, we just did what we had to do to survive! C’mon, Korra,” he says, softer now. “You know we wouldn’t if we didn’t have to.”

Korra exhales loudly. “I know,” she says. She flicks Naga’s leads and they set off again, this time at an amble. “I was just surprised. It’s not every day you find out your friends use to work for–”

“Well, hows about this,” an unfamiliar voice drawls from the shadows. Korra pulls on the leads and stops them in their tracks. “The prodigal son’s little brother. How’s it been, Bolin?”

The speaker emerges from one of the numerous alleys branching from the street. He looks – the only way Korra can describe him is _slimy_. He gives off an air of diseased charm that goes with his crooked grin, and his daemon is a striped bird that she’s never seen before. All up he looks like exactly the sort of person she’d imagined when someone said “gang member”, and she supposes it’s only confirmed when Bolin says unhappily, “Hey, Taro.”

Taro strolls up to them, hands in pockets, and doesn’t seem dissuaded when they both remain on Naga’s back. He just tilts his head up and says, “Been a while since you’ve been around here, Bo. Mayhaps you heard of our predicament with Amon, and you’re here to offer assistance?” His eyes gleam. “In fact, I heard you was captured right there with Zolt and Shady Shin, and yet here you are… and they’re still gone.”

“I got lucky,” Bolin says guardedly. Pabu has dropped from his shoulder to his lap, and Bolin’s keeping one hand on his back. “We’re trying to find out where they’ve taken them. _Avatar Korra_ ,” he emphasizes, nodding to her as if Taro didn’t get it, “says she has a lead.”

Taro looks her up and down, and Korra has the violent urge to dismount and knock his eyes out of his head with her fist. She resists. He meets her eyes and smirks, as if he knows exactly what she’s thinking and finds it hilarious. “Well, soil my britches,” he laughs, “if the _Avatar_ is on the case…” With that, he walks away, but stops at the mouth of the alley and turns back. “You’d best take care out there,” he says, with more threat in his voice than concern. “This Amon business is the kind of thing a less scrupulous bunch would take advantage of. It’s been a while since we had a good ol’ turf war.” Bolin’s eyes widen in surprise, and Taro grins nastily, then turns away again and fades into the shadows.

“Say hi to Mako for me, would ya, Bo?” he calls back over his shoulder, and then he’s gone. Korra glares into the darkness of the alley for another moment, then turns back to Bolin, about to ask a question. It dies in her throat when she sees him.

His face is white, his eyes wide, and it takes her a moment to see that he’s not scared, or shocked – he’s _furious_. He hands are clenched into white-knuckled fists, and he’s biting his lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Who was that?” Korra asks quietly. Bolin doesn’t reply; instead, Pabu sits up slowly, then says, “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just get to the park.”

Korra urges Naga forward and she breaks into a run. The rest of the journey is silent except for Bolin’s terse directions, although she can hear the anger draining out of him as they go. By the time they reach the park he seems almost back to normal, but she doesn’t want to test it by asking what she really wants to know – _What’s Taro’s deal with Mako?_

Instead, she says, “The guy was over by the fountain – I came here around the same time of day when I first arrived, so he should be here.”

She begins to flick Naga’s leads again, but Bolin stops her. “Hang on – I think you should sit this one out. Not because I think you can’t get information out of the guy or anything!” he says hastily, holding up a hand. “It’s just, you guys are pretty memorable. I mean, Naga’s a polar bear dog, and you’re gorgeous.”

Korra laughs and covers her mouth with her hand, unreasonably flattered. “You really think that?” she asks. She can feel the blood rush to her cheeks, and hope it doesn’t show up on her dark skin. She can’t remember the last time she’d blushed. Bolin looks at her warmly.

“Of course,” he says, shrugging like it’s obvious. “We’ve thought it since we first saw you!” Pabu adds, voice softer than usual. Korra looks down, biting her lip to stop herself from grinning madly. “So, let me handle this one, alright?”

 And he slides off Naga’s back, Pabu once more wrapped around his neck, then heads for the fountain. Korra watches him go, still smiling, but soon her curiosity overcomes the warm feeling in her chest. She dismounts and carefully leads Naga into the trees, where she can get close enough to watch Bolin and Pabu without them seeing her.

The Equalist protester is standing up on a table, the enormous posters of Amon behind him just as they were when she came into town. His gopher daemon sits upright next to him as he shouts through the vocal magnifier. “Non-benders of Republic City! Amon calls you to action!” he yells. She spies Bolin strolling towards the set-up, hands casually in his pockets, Pabu trotting at his heels, and Korra grins at the exaggeratedly innocent expression on his face.

“We must take back the city from the oppressive bending–”

“Excuse me!” Bolin interrupts. The man looks down at him in surprise. “Yeah, hi! Big fan of the yelling! I love the part where you were all, ‘Amon calls you to action!’ Some of your best work, in my opinion.”

“Thank you?” the man says, obviously confused. Bolin ploughs on.

“Really got me thinking, Cho – can I call you Cho? You look like a Cho.”

“My name is Li-”

“So anyway, Cho, I was thinking, ‘What can I do to give back to Amon?’ Like, how can I show my support? Is there maybe a donation box, or some sort of… event happening that I can go to..?”

“Well,” the man – Cho – _Li_ – says, looking slightly unsure of himself, “there’s a… a rally tonight. Yes! Amon is holding an event, at which he will show us The Revelation!” Now in his stride, Li continues, “A group of benders tried to sabotage it, but we will not allow our oppressors to silence us!”

“That’s great, Cho!” Bolin replies, grinning widely. “I’m all about that whole, ‘You can never keep us down’ thing, it’s just, isn’t it so great?” He sighs. “Man, this whole thing is just so great! So, can you hook me up with a map, maybe? I’m pretty bad at the whole directions thing…”

Satisfied that Bolin’s doesn’t need back up, Korra leads Naga back to where she and Bolin had split up, and waits until he comes back. A few minutes later he wanders over, waving a square of paper and grinning smugly. “You can take the guy off the street, but you can’t take the street off the guy,” he says happily, then frowns. “Or… whatever. I still got my way with the words, is what I’m saying.”

“Of course,” Korra replies with a smirk. “Did you get the address?” Bolin hands over the paper, and she reads the characters with narrowed eyes. “‘Witness The Revelation’,” she quotes. “That’s what the guy said. That has to be Amon taking away people’s bending.” She reads the smaller print at the bottom of the page, below the handwritten scrawl of an address. “Nine o’clock… guess we’ve got a while to wait.”

Bolin nods, looking thoughtful, and Pabu leans up to whisper something in his ear. Korra tilts her head, curious; Pabu normally has no problem saying whatever he wants to say loud enough for all to hear. Bolin’s eyes go wide, but he smiles. “So, Korra,” he begins, leaning in towards her a little. “I was thinking… you and me, we could go get some lunch… sort of a, date situation?”

“A date?” She’s never been on a date before; never even _wanted_ to go on a date. But if it’s with cheerful Bolin and chirpy Pabu, who make her laugh and think she’s gorgeous…

“I know we’re kind of in the middle of a thing right now,” Bolin says apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck, “but I just think we could use some fun, y’know?” He smiles sweetly at her, and she’s sold.

“You’re right,” she tells him. “I’d love to, Bolin.” He throws a fist in the air.

“Yes!” he crows, putting his hand on Korra’s back and guiding them away. “Who’s the luckiest guy in the world?”

“I am!” Pabu shouts, and Korra finds she couldn’t stop her laugh if she tried.

 

* * *

 

The date is… nice.

The food at Bolin’s favourite Water Tribe noodle bar taste just like the ones back home, and while they eat, Pabu sits on the edge of the table and tells her about how they found the place.

“… and so we’re hiding underneath the blubber packs, absolutely _freezing_ , and then Naruk opens the door! We thought we were dead, but Naruk just says, “You don’t look like any turtle seal I’ve ever seen before!””

When they finish their food, Bolin insists on taking her to one of the smaller bars off the main food district. There’s not too many people there in the mid-afternoon, and the bartender’s known Bolin and his brother for years, so she’s allowed to bring Naga in to rest at their feet, Pabu curled around her paws. The few faces there are in the bar quickly turn from awe at seeing the Avatar, to shock and disgust at seeing her win a burping contest with Bolin, and they both laugh until their stomachs hurt. The bartender, Kumiko, just rolls her eyes with a smile and brings them another glass of cola to share.

They leave, waving goodbye to the bartender, and Bolin leads her through a winding series of streets until they emerge at the entrance to a lush park. It’s much smaller than Republic City Park, but it’s filled with flowerbeds and beautiful trees, with small cobbled paths twisting around and under and over them. Korra looks around in wonder, and doesn’t even notice Bolin watching her face with a warm smile. “Gyatso Memorial Park,” Pabu tell her when she glances back at him. “Avatar Aang built it himself when the city first opened – you wanna go in?”

It’s as amazing from the inside as it had looked outside, and eventually she stops pointing out all the bird species she’s never seen before, all the flowers she ever knew existed, because they’re just too numerous. So they walk in silence through the garden, nodding to those they pass, and she only starts a little when Bolin’s hand finds hers.

The only problem is… it doesn’t exactly feel like a date, to her. At least, it doesn’t feel like what people have told her a date should be. It just feels like her good friend Bolin and Pabu showing her around the town, killing time until sunset and having fun.

“I had a really good time this afternoon, Korra,” Bolin says when they leave the park, Pabu draped around his neck like a scarf and Naga padding at Korra’s side. “Even with the whole Amon-taking-people’s-bending-away thing hanging over our heads. We should do this again sometime.” His voice is confident, but his expression is more uncertain. Korra glances away and sighs.

“Bolin…” she starts, then doesn’t quite know how to finish. Bolin looks down and Pabu’s ears drop, and she knows he gets it without her telling him. She says it anyway. “Today was great, but… I think we should stay friends. It’s not that I don’t like you,” she adds hastily, “it’s just… this whole thing made me realise that I don’t really know how to date someone. I mean, I didn’t even really know how to be friends with someone until I came here – the only friend I had growing up was Naga,” she says, reaching out rub a hand over Naga’s flank. “So I guess what I’m saying is… I don’t think I’d be a good girlfriend, but at least now I _know_ I can be a good friend.”

Bolin tosses her a diminished version of his usual bright smile. “I think you’re a great friend, Korra,” he says. “And I think you’d be a great girlfriend too, but – being your friend is amazing, and I wouldn’t want to give that up.”

“Thanks, Bolin,” she says. Suddenly his grin is back to full strength, and he shrugs and says,

“Besides, this happens all the time. I’ve had more people say they just wanna be friends than Pabu’s had fleas.”

“Hey!” Pabu says indignantly, and Korra laughs.

“You really do have a way with words, don’t you?” she says.

“All part of the Bolin charm,” Bolin says smugly, stretching out his hands in front of him and cracking them. Then he casually throws an arm around her shoulder, disrupting Pabu and sending him squeaking to the top of Bolin’s head. “C’mon, let’s head back to the apartment – Mako should be home by now.”

They walk in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the heavy weight of Bolin’s arm over her shoulder a welcome warmth in the rapidly cooling temperature of sunset; especially as she can tell there’s no romantic expectation in it. As they get closer to the pro-bending arena, however, Bolin’s steps hesitate for a moment.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, concerned.

Bolin shakes his head, but he’s frowning, and a second later Pabu says quickly, “Don’t tell Mako we ran into Taro today, please?”

Korra blinks. She almost has to ask what he’s talking about before she remembers – the man who’d talked to them as they walked through the gang territory. The one who’d told Bolin to say hi to Mako for him, the one who’d made Bolin speechless with fury. She’d completely forgotten about him over the course of the day, and at the reminder all her curiosity comes flooding back. But Bolin’s watching her, eyebrows knitted together with worry, so she says, “I won’t.”

He breathes out a sigh of relief and they continue walking. Up ahead, the lights of the arena suddenly switch on, each section lighting up in sequence until the whole building is dazzling with them. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me what Taro’s deal is, would you?” she asks hopefully. Bolin just shakes his head.

“Sorry, Korra,” he says. She waits for an explanation, but none are forthcoming, so she decides to let it go. Contrary to what others probably believe, she does know how to do that.

Static-filled jazz music and the smell of something delicious are drifting from the apartment when they reach the top of the arena, and Bolin and Pabu both inhale deeply. “Komodo-chicken udon,” Pabu says dreamily, and jumps off Bolin’s head to scramble up the steps. Bolin follows, while Korra rubs Naga’s ears and apologises again for making her stay down here, and then she goes after them up into the apartment, throwing a promise to bring some dinner to Naga over her shoulder.

“Bolin! Where have you _been?_ ” she hears Amate demand, and when her head pokes above the trapdoor she sees Amate standing at full height, nose in Bolin’s face as he leans back. Pabu is already curled up on Amate’s shell, and Mako is standing a metre away at the stove, arms crossed. “We thought you’d been kidnapped again!”

“Sorry, Amate,” Bolin says sheepishly. The armadillo bear daemon just huffs and turns away, whacking Bolin in the side with her tail as she goes. “Ow! Okay, I probably deserved that, but we were just out with Korra and lost track of time, okay?”

“Yeah, blame me, Amate,” Korra says, stepping up into the apartment and brushing some dust off her furs. Mako glances over at her, then rolls his eyes and takes the pot of food off the stove. “I wanted to find out where Amon’s rally is going to be held tonight, so I took Bolin along–”

“You _what?_ ” Mako shouts. Amate murmurs his name, but he continues, “You dragged my little brother back _there?_ ”

“Woah, chill, Mako!” Bolin interrupts, stepping between him and Korra. “I wanted to go, and besides, we didn’t even go to the warehouse. Why are you always going off at Korra like this?”

“Yeah, I thought we were friends!” Korra says, crossing her arms. Mako looks at her and sighs, then rubs his forehead.

“I apologise for him,” Amate rumbles. “We are protective over our little brother.” Pabu scurries from her back to her head and nuzzles against her ear. “So what did you find?” Mako says, ignoring his daemon and pretending that cheeks aren’t red. Bolin bites down on a grin and digs through his pockets until he finds the crumpled paper that Li had given them. Mako studies it closely.

“Oma Street,” he mutters with a frown. “Isn’t that right outside Monsoon territory?”

“Monsoon? You mean the Red Monsoons?” Korra asks. “Isn’t that another gang? Why would Amon want to hold an anti-bending rally near a group of powerful benders?”

“If there’s enough tension between the triads for a turf war to be starting, maybe Amon’s trying to capitalize on that,” Mako says, tapping a finger against his chin. Bolin perks up.

“You heard that too?” he says. “I thought it was just–” He cuts himself off.

“Just what?” Mako asks suspiciously.

“Uh, no one. Nothing. Did I say something?” Bolin babble. Korra rolls her eyes and Mako squints at him. “How would Amon take advantage of a turf war?”

It’s an obvious attempt to move on, and Mako takes it reluctantly. “Amon has Lightning Bolt Zolt and Shady Shin – the leader and a high-ranking member of the Triple Threat Triads. Take them out, and there’ll be a power vacuum in the triad, and they’ll be weak enough for the other gangs to make a move – you know the Monsoons have been looking to take them down since the Terror Triad fell.” Bolin nods as if this is obvious. “If an all-out turf war starts over this, the Council and the police will be so stretched thin trying to deal with it, Amon will be able to make all the trouble he wants.”

“It’ll be like the Fire Nation Justice riots all over again,” Bolin says with wide eyes. As soon as they get out of this, Korra swears, she’s going to read every Republic City history book she can get her hands on, just so she can understand what the two brothers are talking about.

“That sounds awful, but we need to take this one step at a time,” she says firmly. “And the first step is getting into this rally to see if Amon really can take people’s bending away permanently.”

“I’ll come with you!” Bolin volunteers instantly, only to be brought up by a sharp “No!” from both Mako and Amate. He glares at them, but neither of them budge. “Amate,” Pabu complains, but she just growls. He huffs and leaps off her head, catching on Bolin’s shirt and scrabbling up to sit sulkily on his shoulder.

“You’re not going anywhere near those guys,” Mako says firmly. “I’ll go.” He looks at Korra as if asking her to disagree, but she just holds her hands up and smiles.

“As long as I have some backup,” she says, then glances at Bolin. “Sorry.”

He just laughs, running a finger over Pabu’s head. “Too scared to argue with Mama Mako and Amate, I get it,” he teases, and they both laugh when Mako glares at them and turns away.

“Real funny. Now do you want dinner or not?”

 

* * *

 

Two hours pass quickly, and before Korra knows it, Mako is digging through his closet for something she can wear. Amate is downstairs with Bolin and Pabu, all three of them lounging on the couch and listening to the radio. “Your outfit stands out, just a bit,” he explains, wrinkling his nose. “Do you even have other clothes?”

“Of course I do!” Korra says indignantly. “They just… all look exactly the same as these ones. You’re one to talk!” He ignores her, and a second later he throws a coat backwards. She catches it and tries it on, frowning at the way it pulls at her shoulders. “Was this yours?” It covers the furs around her hips easily, and it’s not even tight in the chest.

“I grew out of it a few years back,” Mako says. “Kept meaning to fix it, but then we started pro-bending and got enough to buy new coats, and then I kind of forgot I still had it.” He gives her a half-smile. “Lucky for you.”

“Yeah, lucky,” Korra grumbles, doing a few experimental punches. “I can barely move my arms in this thing.”

“We’re not going there to fight,” he reminds her, then frowns. “You should probably cover your hair,” he says. “Or at least change it.” She crosses her arms.

“No way,” she says bluntly. “If I have to cover up my Water Tribe clothes, then I’m keeping my hair in Water Tribe style.”

“Why?” Mako seems genuinely confused, and a little frustrated. “It’ll just make you more recognizable, and we really don’t want to get caught at this place.”

“It’s a cultural thing,” she insists, and when he looks at her blankly, she says, “Don’t you have any Fire Nation things you’re proud of? That you wouldn’t want to hide?” He looks vaguely uncomfortable now.

“No?” he says uncertainly. “I mean, Bolin likes to wear Earth Kingdom greens, and he goes barefoot sometimes, but I don’t really know much about Fire Nation culture, apart from the basics.” He shakes his head. “Never mind. If you want to keep your hair like that, we need to find a hat. And…” He hesitates, then starts unwrapping the red scarf from around his neck. Without it, he looks strangely smaller. “You should probably wear this. Cover as much of your face as you can with it – there aren’t many non-Water Tribe people in the city as dark-skinned as you are.”

“Mako…” But his expression is determined, so she takes the scarf and puts it on. “This feels wrong,” she murmurs as she positions it to hide her mouth. “I hate hiding.”

“If you want to see what Amon can do, this is the way to do it,” Mako tells her, and then gestures for her to follow as he heads back downstairs.

There, they discuss the trickier part of the disguise: Mako’s distinctive daemon, and Korra’s distinct lack of one. “She stands out too much – too many people associate armadillo bear daemon with me anyway, because of the pro-bending press,” he tells Korra from where he’s sitting on the floor, sprawled against Amate’s side. Bolin’s sitting up on the couch now, Pabu in his lap, and Korra paces back and forth slowly. “You can’t use Naga – people will recognize you right away. So we need two daemons.” He rubs his forehead. “Where do you get a daemon?”

Pabu’s ears shoot up and he stands suddenly. “I don’t know where you get a daemon, but I know how you fake one!” he says excitedly. “Doesn’t Toza’s husband have a spiderfly daemon?”

It seems like a complete non sequitur to Korra, but Amate lifts her head in interest, and Mako clicks his fingers and says, “Pabu! You’re a genius!”

“Thanks!” Pabu and Bolin say together. Seeing her confusion, Bolin turns to Korra and explains, “People with tiny daemons, mostly insects, usually have these little cases for them, so they don’t get blown away. Lao Shi – Toza’s husband – he’s super paranoid, always keeps them in different places just in case, and there’s definitely at least two in Toza’s office. You break in there, take a couple, and boom!” He smacks a fist to his palm. “Instant daemons! No one’ll question why they’re not talking to anyone if they’re in their cases!”

They sketch out a plan, and then prepare to leave. Bolin hugs Korra tightly as Pabu delicately licks Amate’s ear, and he says, “Don’t get caught – Amon’s a nasty dude.” Korra laughs and hugs him back.

“Be nice to Naga,” she replies. They separate, and Mako puts a hand on Bolin’s shoulder, drawing him into another hug.

“We’ll be back,” she hears Mako mutter.

“Be careful,” is all Bolin says, and then he’s holding out his arm for Pabu to jump onto, and Korra and Mako start down the steps, Amate carefully climbing down backwards. Naga’s head shoots up and her tail starts to wag when their approaching steps wake her, but Korra holds a hand out.

“Stay, Naga,” she says. Naga lowers her head, ears drooping, and Korra gives her a firm scratch behind one ear. “I’ll be back soon,” she promises, and turns back to Mako. He nods, and then Amate is with them, and they head for Toza’s office.

Breaking in is surprisingly easy – although perhaps not too surprising, given what Korra knows about Mako’s background – and soon, the three of them are back out on the streets, walking along the bay in the opposite direction to the warehouse Bolin had been taken to. There aren’t many people out, probably a result of the fierce wind that had sprung up while they’d been inside, but Amate looms protectively at their backs anyway. Korra feels a rush of warmth towards the armadillo bear daemon, one that only slightly extends towards her other half.

“Here; I know somewhere I can get you a hat,” he says suddenly, and they head away from the water’s edge and into the city. Korra recognizes the food district and, more worryingly, recognizes the direction they’re heading in. Sure enough, Mako pulls open the door to the small bar she and Bolin had been in earlier, and gestures for her to go first. She smiles weakly and steps inside.

Kumiko looks up from where she and her spiny chameleon are both wiping down the bar, and her face lights up upon seeing them. “Hello again, Avatar Korra!” she calls, her voice only slightly creaky with age. “And you’ve brought Mako with you, this time!” She can feel Mako staring at the back of her head and grins sheepishly.

“Were you and Bolin here earlier?” he asks. Before she can even think of a reply, Kumiko says,

“Why, they were on a date!” Korra thinks of making a frantic ‘stop talking please’ gesture, but Mako’s still staring at her, so Kumiko goes on, “Surely he told you that his girlfriend was the Avatar – I can’t remember you two ever keeping secrets.”

“Neither can I,” Mako replies, and he doesn’t look angry so much as confused.

“I’m not his girlfriend! We’re not dating!” Korra insists, waving her hands a little. “Well, I mean – it was a date, technically, but I told him I’d rather just be friends afterwards, so, no girlfriends here!”

“You broke up with him?” Mako asks, now looking both confused and angry.

“Aren’t we getting a little side-tracked?” she says, crossing her arms, and Mako looks back at Kumiko, who’s watching avidly.

“Sorry,” he says. “We’re doing a little undercover work, and we were wondering if we could borrow a hat for Korra.” Kumiko claps in excitement, and her daemon trills.

“Ooh, this sounds marvelous!” she says happily. “Hold on, I’ll fetch one.” She disappears out the back doors, taking her daemon with her, and the instant she’s gone Mako rounds on Korra.

“Why’d you break up with him?” he demands. Korra doesn’t know whether to be glad or not that Amate’s still outside – she’s in no hurry to face her anger again, but she usually calms Mako down from stuff like this.

“None of your business!” she retorts, crossing her arms. “And it was one date – can you even break up with someone if it’s only been one date?” Mako frowns more deeply and opens his mouth to argue, but the back door opens again before he can.

“Here, Avatar Korra,” she says kindly, holding out a soft felt hat to her. It’s a dull beige, but with leaf designs on the brim – pretty in its own way, but not likely to stand out. “It’s my best secret operative hat,” Kumiko tells her with a wink. “Now, Mako, I hope you won’t be starting any fights your brother over this date business.”

“No, Kumi,” Mako sighs. She nods firmly.

“And bring Amate in here, there’s a dear – Karu hasn’t seen her in such a while.”

They stick around long enough for Amate and Kumiko’s daemon to talk a little, and then they’re off again, again walking in silence. Korra and Mako don’t look at each other, and before long, Amate sighs.

“Korra, Mako is just concerned for Bolin,” she says. Korra rolls her eyes.

“Why is that your excuse for every time you get mad at me?” she says, directing the question at Mako. “I thought we were friends, after what happened yesterday. Do you just not like me?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mako replies angrily, not meeting her eyes. “Let’s just get this done and get out of each other’s way, okay?”

“Fine,” Korra shoots back, and they continue on. Amate sighs again, but doesn’t speak.

Minutes later, Mako sees some landmark that must mean something to him, because he stops and gestures for Amate to come closer. “We’re getting nearer,” he murmurs, “so you have to disappear. Stay close.” She nods, and ambles into a side street while Mako takes the insect cases from his pocket and hands one to Korra. They loop them around their necks and continue walking. Korra hopes Amate’s finding a way to keep within range; she can see the blood slowly draining from Mako’s face in the dim light of the moon, and remembers the way Pabu had flickered. She shivers and steps just a tiny bit closer to him.

When they’re almost at Oma Street, others start joining them – some by themselves, most of them couples or small groups of people. It looks as if they are people from every Nation except Air, and Korra sees people her age along with some who must be in their sixties.  Everyone nods to each other, and they’re all heading in the same direction – the looming building that’s coming into view.

When they reach the building, they see if has to windows, but there’s light spilling out through the front door, which is guarded by a large man, much taller than Mako. They take their place in the line waiting to get in, and Korra buries her face in the scarf around her neck. It smells nice, she realises distantly, but shakes the thought away when she sees Amate, barely visible in the shadows, peering out of an alleyway and then moving with surprising grace and silence to the side of the building, maybe five metres away. She hears Mako exhale loudly beside her, and when she looks, his colouring has returned to normal. They shuffle forward in the line. The couple in front of them hold out a piece of paper, which the guards looks over before nodding and gesturing for them to go in.

“Mako,” she hisses through a smile, “you still have the paper Bolin got, don’t you?”

He digs in his pocket and produces the now thoroughly crumpled page, then shows it to the guard as they move forward. He scrutinizes it, and Korra can feel a bead of sweat forming on her temple. Then he smiles.

“Enjoy the Revelation,” he tells them, and waves them through.

 

* * *

 

The crowd that filters out of the warehouse two hours later is buzzing, everyone excitedly murmuring about what they had witnessed. Two members of the crowd detach from the flow and walk casually towards a side alley, quiet and unnoticeable. When they reach the mouth of the alley, Amate bounds up to them, and Mako meets her halfway, wrapping his arms around her neck and burying his face in her fur as the tension visibly drains out of him. Normally Korra would smile at the sight, but the memory of what they’d just seen is blocking out everything else. Instead, she just gestures with her head, and they start walking.

“He actually did it, didn’t he,” Amate rumbles. It isn’t a question. For what feels like the hundredth time, Korra’s mind replays the moment when Amon had pressed a thumb to Lightning Bolt Zolt’s forehead, Zolt’s python daemon dropping to the ground instantly, and the look of horror on Zolt’s face when he tried to throw a fire punch but couldn’t. She remembers the way Shady Shin’s cranefish daemon’s legs had collapsed underneath her, the way the other bender up there had just sobbed silently, shoulders shaking. Bolin had told her his name, but try as she might, she can’t recall it. It bothers her, in an absent sort of way.

She remembers how Amon had told the crowd, in his charismatic voice, how his daemon had been killed in the attack that took his parents and his face, and how the spirits had helped him survive. How they granted him the power to remove people’s bending.

“I didn’t want to see them go down like that,” Mako mutters. She glances over at him, but he’s watching the ground, kicking at pebbles in his path, keeping one hand on Amate. “Especially not Wei Min. He’s a good guy – he looked out for Bolin when they were working together.”

“I’m sorry,” Korra says. He looks up at her, and an unreadable expression crosses his face, but he says nothing more.

They skirt around the Red Monsoon territory as they had on the way to the rally, but Korra still feels relieved when the darkened shape of the pro-bending arena comes into view. They trudge up the steps to the top of the building, Mako leading the way and Amate following slowly, and then they’re finally standing underneath the trapdoor up to the brothers’ apartment. Korra kneels in front of Naga and hugs her as tight as she can, and gets a sleepy lick in return.

“Korra,” Mako says suddenly, voice soft. “I’m… sorry for being, uh.”

“A jerk?” Korra suggests, following his lead and keeping her voice low. “Totally and completely rude?”

“That one,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just I… it’s my problem, not yours. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you like that, especially not after you saved my little brother.”

“Mako…” The indignant anger drains out of her, leaving her tired and wanting the quiet safety of Tenzin’s home on Air Temple Island. “It’s okay. Forget it.”

“No,” he insists, putting a hand on Amate’s neck and gripping tight. “If you hadn’t been there, Bolin would’ve had his bending taken away. I can’t–” His voice wavers, and Korra thinks she understands, a little; the thought of Bolin staring out into nothing like the men on stage, Pabu sprawled next to him in broken silence… “I owe you,” he finishes. “A lot.”

She doesn’t know what to say – the night is catching up to her, adrenaline and fear and horror taking their toll. Instead, she unwraps the scarf from around her neck, takes off the hat, and unpeels the coat from her body. She hands them all to Mako, the scarf on top, and when he takes them she says, “So we can be friends now?” Mako looks a little startled, but then he gives her a tiny smile.

“Yeah,” he says. “We’re friends.”

Tenzin’s waiting for her when she gets back, and when he sees her he rushes forward. “Thank goodness,” he sighs. “Are you alright?”

She turns away and shakes her head, curling in on herself a little. “Korra,” Ume says, her voice gentle, “did you find out what you went there for?”

“It’s true,” Korra says. She wonders if she sounds as numb and emotionless as she feels. “I saw Amon take away their bending. It’s all true.”

Tenzin sighs heavily. “I was afraid you’d say that.” He looks out across the bay, to the lights of the city that still shine long after the arena switches off. “I don’t know how he’s doing it, but this means that the Revolution is more dangerous than ever.” He reaches out and clasps a hand over Korra’s shoulder, a point of warm contact in the cold night air. “You’ve had a long day. Get some rest – we’ll figure this out in the morning.”

 

* * *

 

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_I’ve only been in Republic City for a week, but it feels like a month. Airbending training ~~sucks~~  isn’t going as well as I’d hoped, but Master Tenzin tells me I just need to be patient.  ~~Actually he won’t stop telling me~~_ ~~~~

_I know we don’t get radio transmissions very well at home, but I joined a pro-bending team, and we might make it into the finals, if we can get enough money to enter. The other two people on my team are brothers; Bolin’s an earthbender, and his older brother Mako is ~~kind of a jerk~~  a firebender.  ~~They touch each other’s daemons~~    ~~They used to work for one of the gangs here in the city~~    ~~They’re both confusing, for different reasons~~_ ~~~~

_We’ve only known each other for a few days, but we’re already good friends._

_There’s also an anti-bending movement in the city, led by a man called Amon. He can take a person’s bending away permanently. ~~I’ve never been so scared of someone before~~  Don’t worry about me, I’m staying out of it.  ~~I had a nightmare about getting caught by him and I don’t~~  Tenzin’s in a meeting with the Council right now discussing how to stop him._ _I’m just focusing on my airbending training. ~~Even though I still can’t bend even the tiniest bit of~~_

_I miss you. Say hi to Master Katara for me._

_Love, Korra_

 

* * *

 

Tenzin returns from the Council meeting with a face like thunder.

“Tarrlok refuses to listen to reason!” he exclaims when Korra asks. “He is set upon creating some sort of – military taskforce to bring down Amon, with no thought to the political consequences!”

“Isn’t it good that he’s taking such a hard stance?” Korra says with a frown. She’s good in a fight, but if the past few days have proven anything, it’s that she’s nowhere near ready to take up the political side of being the Avatar yet. Tenzin rubs the bridge of his nose.

“Not when it’s aggressive enough to force an aggressive response in turn from the non-bending population,” Ume explains, patient but obviously frustrated. “Have you ever studied the Fire Nation Justice riots?”

“A friend mentioned them the other day,” Korra replied. “I didn’t ask what they were.”

“In the early days of Republic City, the newly-formed police force had a few problems with prejudice against Fire Nation citizens,” Tenzin says, visibly calming as he settles into Teaching Mode. “There were a series of planned peaceful protests against police brutality towards these citizens, but they were hijacked by an underground Fire Nation supremacy group that had sprung up after the war ended. The police were completely unprepared for such an attack, and hundreds of innocent Fire Nation civilians were killed in the crossfire. Afterwards, a series of strict anti-prejudice regulations were set in place to avoid anything like it happening again – although they couldn’t control what the population thought of any particular race or bender, they could ensure the police would never uphold any sort of violent bias. And now it seems as if it’s happening again, only with non-benders in place of Fire Nation,” he concludes with a sigh.

 Korra digests this. “So… do you think Tarrlok has some kind of anti-non-bender belief that’s fueling this taskforce plan?” she asks.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. I tried to bring up the increased triad activity in an effort to distract me, but it was brushed off as trivial in comparison.” He gives her a narrow look. “Perhaps it would have been more credible if you would tell me how you know about it.”

She grins weakly. She could tell him that it came from a man named Taro who works for the Triple Threats, or from a street urchin named Scoochy, but either way it could link back to Mako and Bolin, and she wouldn’t expose their past like that. Not when they’d trusted her and let her into their lives so quickly and so easily.

Ume _hmph_ s and ruffles her feathers, then croaks, “In any case, you shouldn’t be worrying about any of this. I will reason with Tarrlok, and the Council will fix it. You just focus on airbending, and continue your pro-bending.” Tenzin nods, and they walk away. Korra watched them go with a heavy heart.

 _Just focus on airbending_ , she thinks, forcing her thoughts away from Amon’s cold blank mask, the image of him moving closer and closer. _Don’t worry, focus on airbending_.

She doesn’t go to pro-bending practice. She goes over her airbending moves, again and again until she’s exhausted. When Amon comes on the radio, cold sweat drips from her forehead, and she doesn’t think about why. She turns down Tarrlok’s offer to join his taskforce, and knows that Tenzin doesn’t buy her excuse.

So it’s a relief when, sitting out on the steps at sunset with Naga dozing beside her, she hears a cheerful voice calling out, “Hello, fellow teammate!”

“Hey, Bolin, Pabu,” she replies with a smile. Pabu jumps from his shoulder to the ground and touches noses with Naga, still upside-down.

“We missed you at practice yesterday,” he says, sounding put out. Korra’s mood instantly drops.

“Sorry about that,” she murmurs. She runs a hand over Naga’s belly, not meeting Bolin’s eyes.

“It’s alright,” he says. “We’re probably out of the tournament anyway. Unless some money miraculously drops out of the sky by tomorrow.”

She loves pro-bending, but the thought of spending her time on it at the moment just seems… frivolous. Pabu’s watching her closely, and she concentrates on her hands, patting Naga repetitively.

“Anyway, the reason we came by was to give you this,” Bolin says, and she looks up to see him thrusting a rose and a cake of some sort at her. “Ta-da!”

“Thanks – what’s this for?” she asks, taking them and unwrapping the bag the cake is in. Her stomach is suddenly reminding her that she hasn’t eaten since breakfast, and she prepares to dig in hungrily.

“I just remembered that I never thanked you properly for saving me from Amon!” Bolin says. Her stomach twists, and she puts the cake down. Somehow, she isn’t hungry anymore.

“It was no big deal,” she mutters. Pabu chitters indignantly.

“No big deal?” Bolin repeats incredulously. “I was tied up in a warehouse, without Pabu, and some guy is telling me that I’m gonna have my bending taken away?” Pabu leaps from the ground beside Naga’s head back up to Bolin, who catches him and holds him to his chest protectively. “It was terrifying! I’m still having nightmares!”

 _Amon walking out of the shadows, hand reaching towards her_. She hums and looks away again.

“Also, Mako’s on a date, so I thought I might as well come see how you’re doing,” Bolin adds. Korra’s head shoots up.

“What?” she asks, but a second later another voice is calling out,

“Delivery for Avatar Korra!”

 She looks up to see someone carrying an enormous basket full of colourful gifs, topped with a bright pink ribbon. When they puts the basket down, Korra sees that they’re dressed in official-looking clothing, a mute gecko daemon on they’re shoulder. “Tarrlok sends his compliments, and urges you to reconsider his offer,” they say, clasping they’re hands in front of them. Well, that explained the obnoxiousness of the gift.

“Tell him I haven’t changed my mind,” she replies, and closes her eyes. The page makes a displeased noise, but she hears footsteps leading away from her.

“Who’s this Tarrlok guy?” Pabu asks. He twists out of Bolin’s hands and stands on his shoulder, glaring at the page’s retreating back. “Is he bothering you?”

“If he is, I can have a word with him,” Bolin adds, punching his fist into his palm. For the first time in two days, Korra laughs.

“It’s not like that,” she assures him, smiling. “He’s just some old guy who works with Tenzin on the Council.”

“Oh,” Bolin says. “Good. That sounds better.” He takes up a bending stance. “I can still have a few words with him though, if you want.”

Korra laughs again, imagining Bolin and Pabu storming into the prestigious Council room and angrily telling Tarrlok to back off. He’d probably do it, if she asked, and it makes her feel better than she has since… well, since her date with him a few days ago. Then, “Wait. Did you say Mako has a date tonight?”

“Yeah! Isn’t that weird?” He comes and sits next to her on the steps, flopping onto his back, Pabu neatly jumping from his shoulder to his stomach as he does. “It’s been _years_ since he dated anyone, and then yesterday he came home all red and flustered and said he’s going to some fancy restaurant tonight.” He sighs wistfully. “I just hope it doesn’t end like all the other ones.”

“What does that mean?” Korra asks, curious in a macabre sort of way.

“Everyone he dates always breaks up with him for terrible reasons,” Bolin says, leaning closer as if imparting a great secret. “Like, this one girl, she said his hands were weird. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Are his hands weird?” Korra asks. Now that she thinks about it, she’s never seen him gloves – he’s always wearing either his own fingerless ones or the official pro-bending ones.

“His hands are fine!” Pabu says defensively. “She was the weird one.” Korra holds her own hands up apologetically, and Bolin says, “And this other girl, she thought it was too weird that Mako and I touch each other’s daemons.”

He says it so casually that for a moment Korra doesn’t register the words – when she does, she looks away and rubs her neck. Mako had never brought it up, after she’d seen what he’d done to find Bolin the other night. She should have known Bolin would, at some point. “I thought that was a little weird, at first,” she admits. “But I mean, I don’t even _have_ a daemon. How would I know?”

It’s dark by now, and they sit in silence for a while; Bolin on his back flicking Pabu’s tail back and forth, Korra idly scratching Naga behind the ear. “We should probably go,” Bolin says after a while. He picks up Pabu and stands, brushing dust off his clothes. “We’ll see you around, okay? Take care of yourself.”

“Yeah,” Korra says, and she smiles. “See you around, Bolin.”

She watches him walk back to the ferry until he's barely visible, the night lit by the temple lamps and the glow of the city across the bay. The pro-bending arena is shining golden as usual, but it just brings back that feeling of unease, instead of the sense of wonder she'd had only days ago.

Naga nudges her hand and whines softly. Korra goes back to scratching her head. "It'll be okay, girl," she says. "I'll figure something out."

She wasn't the Avatar for nothing, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and that's that! hope you enjoyed this mess of excessive daemon worldbuilding and Bro Feels™ . feel free to comment or drop me a line at [my tumblr](http://wanime.tumblr.com/) if you liked it, or wanna know more about / see more of this 'verse!


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